MathNEWS
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- The correct title of this article is mathNEWS. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
| mathNEWS | |
|---|---|
 Cover of mathNEWS volume 100, number 5 (10 March 2006) |
|
| Editor | May vary every four months (each campus term) |
| Categories | Canadian student newspapers |
| Frequency | fortnightly |
| Circulation | 1200 (bi-weekly) |
| First Issue | 25 January 1973 |
| Company | mathNEWS (MathSoc) |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | |
| Website | www.mathnews.uwaterloo.ca |
| ISSN | 0705-0410 |
mathNEWS is a bi-weekly publication created by Faculty of Mathematics students at the University of Waterloo. [1] Although an issue of mathNEWS contains some announcements relevant to "Mathies", it is primarily meant to be a humour paper.
Contents |
[edit] Origins
The first issue of mathNEWS came out on January 25, 1973. [2] At this point, the paper contained mostly news, announcements, and puzzles. The paper was started by the students' Math Society (MathSoc) with intentions that it be "financed by, but independent of MathSoc". The paper was originally produced weekly, but switched to bi-weekly in the winter term of 1975 (vol. 7) due to lack of resources.
[edit] Eclectica
For the Spring term of 1979 (vol. 20), mathNEWS was reformatted to become a literary paper. Due to lack of support among the writing staff, only one issue was printed. The following term (vol. 21) mathNEWS returned to its original format.
[edit] profQUOTES
The most popular regular feature in mathNEWS is profQUOTES. In this section, students submit amusing quotations from their professors which are in turn published in mathNEWS. The first profQUOTES was published in mathNEWS on November 1, 1985. Just 2 quotes were published under the heading "Quote of the day?", however, students started submitting their own quotes regularly. In the January 31, 1986 issue, the editors put a note next to the "Quotes of the Week" actively soliciting submission of quotes. The title of the feature continued to change over the weeks until the title of "profQUOTES" was settled on in the April 2, 1986 issue.
Waterloo economics professor Larry Smith has been one of the most quoted profs in the feature. His first quote was "A typical bunch of Canadians; I’m telling you how to make money and you just want to go and eat your bloody lunch", featured in the March 7, 1986 issue of mathNEWS when the feature was still called "From the Mouths of Prof".
This feature has prompted the creation of the profquotes.com website, which is gaining international interest, including reviews in the Goucher College (U.S.) newspaper The Quindecim [3] and the New York Times [4]
[edit] Parody Issues
Aside from the regular bi-weekly publications, mathNEWS is also known for producing parody issues based on popular newspapers and magazines from around Canada and worldwide. Parody of well-known news outlets include:
- Irrational Toast (Parodying the launching of the Canadian newspaper National Post; July 1999 [5]
- Mathim (Parody of US entertainment magazine Maxim); March 2000 [6]
- Combinapolitan (A combination of the math subject Combinatorics and cosmopolitan, parody of US entertainment magazine Cosmopolitan); March 2000 [7]
- Daglobenpost (A satirical prediction should The Globe and Mail and National Post merge as one paper); July 2000 [8]
- ȳm (Pronounced Y bar sub M, Parody of US teen magazine YM); November 2001 [9]
- The Toronto Moon (Parody of the Canadian tabloid newspaper Toronto Sun); March 2002 [10]
- Mathleans (Parody of Canadian newsmagazine Maclean's); March 2006 [11]
[edit] Further reading
- (1989) in Hodgins, Stuart L.; Letniowski, Frank W.: "Just think of me as the mathematical Picasso" : the best of mathNEWS prof quotes, illustrations: Ponzo, Peter. Library and Archives Canada AMICUS # 8961486.
