EWS Alum Daniel Vargas '21 Wins Merten M. Hasse Prize for Notable Mathematics Paper

Daniel Vargas (EWS '21) was awarded the Merten M. Hasse Prize for the paper “Being Rational About Algebraic Numbers” which he coauthored with mathematics professors Matthew Davis (Muskingum University) and Adam Parker (Wittenberg University). The paper expands on an ancient algorithm from 130 C.E. that approximates the square root of two by a sequence of rational numbers.

The Hasse Prize was established in 1986 by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and is awarded to noteworthy expository papers that appear in an MAA publication whose authors contain at least one “younger” mathematician. The $1,000 award and certificate of recognition is designed to encourage younger mathematicians to take up the challenge of exposition and communication.