Margaret Maxfield facts for kids
Margaret Alice Waugh Maxfield (February 23, 1926 – December 20, 2016) was an American mathematician. She was also an author who wrote many math books.
Early Life and Education
Margaret Waugh was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, on February 23, 1926. Her father, Frederick V. Waugh, was an expert in agricultural economics. Her grandfather, Frank Albert Waugh, was known for his work with plants.
Margaret loved math from a young age. She was part of the math club at Oberlin College in the 1940s. She graduated from Oberlin in 1947.
She continued her studies, earning a master's degree in 1948 from the University of Wisconsin. In 1951, she earned her Ph.D. (a very high degree) from the University of Oregon. Her special research project was about a math idea called Fermat's Theorem for Matrices over a Modular Ring.
In 1948, she married John Edward Maxfield. He was also a math student. They often worked together on projects later in life.
Working as a Mathematician
While they were still students, Margaret and John Maxfield spent summers working at a place called the Naval Ordnance Test Station. This place is now known as the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.
After finishing their doctorates, both Maxfields worked at this station from 1951 to 1960. Later, John Maxfield became a professor at different universities. Margaret also became a professor. She taught business at Kansas State University. She also taught mathematics and statistics at Louisiana Tech University.
By 2011, Margaret Maxfield had retired. However, she was still interested in math. She even mentioned using Wikipedia to find information for her papers. She passed away on December 20, 2016, in Placerville, California.
Her Contributions to Math
Margaret Maxfield wrote several important math books. While working at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, she helped write Statistics Manual: With Examples Taken from Ordnance Development. This book was first published in 1955. It was later reprinted in 1960.
She also wrote many books with her husband, John Maxfield. Some of these include:
- Contemporary Mathematics for General Education: Algebra (1963)
- Abstract Algebra and Solution By Radicals (1971)
- Discovering Number Theory (1972)
- Keys to Mathematics (1973)
In 1968, Margaret Maxfield won the Lester R. Ford Award. This award is given by the Mathematical Association of America. She won it for a paper she wrote with her father. The paper was about how to find good simple fractions that are close to square roots.
