Which of two students is actually the better scholar?
Did the famous university really discriminate against women?
Why is the Santa Cruz Beach always so busy when I go there?
We will consider these questions along with others that easy mathematics helps to answer.
But the answers are not always transparent.
John Mitchem recently retired from San Jose State University. During his 34 years at SJSU he wrote several dozen papers on graph theory and combinatorics, won the Polya Award for exposition from the Mathematical Association of America, and served two terms as chair of the University's largest department. He has also taught at two different times in Africa: at the University of Botswana as a Fulbright Lecturer and early in his career at Mpwapwa Tanzania Secondary School.
| 101 | From US Highway 101, take the De La Cruz Boulevard/Santa Clara exit and follow the signs to El Camino and the main campus entrance. |
| 280 | From I-280, take I-880 north toward Oakland to the Alameda exit. Turn left onto The Alameda (which becomes El Camino Real) to the main campus entrance. |
| 880 | From I-880, take the Alameda exit, travel north (The Alameda becomes El Camino Real) to the main campus entrance. |