Margaret Willerding facts for kids

Margaret Frances Willerding (1919–2003) was an American mathematician. She was known for her work with numbers and shapes, especially in a field called combinatorial enumeration, which is about counting different ways things can be arranged. She also wrote many math textbooks and helped edit the problems section of a math journal called School Science and Mathematics.

Early Life and School

Margaret Willerding was born on April 26, 1919, in St. Louis, Missouri. After finishing high school in 1936, she wanted to go to college. Her parents could not afford an expensive school. So, she went to Harris Teachers College because it was free. She studied education there and also focused on mathematics. She graduated in 1940.

After working as a schoolteacher for a year, she decided to go to Saint Louis University. She wanted to study mathematics more deeply. She chose this university because it was close to her home. This allowed her to keep living with her parents. Margaret worked as a schoolteacher to pay for her studies. Later, she received a special scholarship called a fellowship. She was the first woman at the university to get this fellowship.

She earned her master's degree in 1943. Then, she completed her Ph.D. (a very high degree) in 1947. Her main research was about different ways to represent numbers using special math forms. She later published her work in a well-known math journal.

Career and Contributions

After getting her Ph.D., Margaret Willerding started teaching math at Washington University in St. Louis in 1947. However, she faced some unfair treatment there. She was told that men would get promotions before her. She was also asked to do things like pour tea for faculty wives. Because of this, she left after only one semester.

She returned to Harris Teachers College. There, she focused on mathematics education, which means teaching people how to learn and understand math. She also became active in a group called the Missouri Section of the Mathematical Association of America.

In 1954, she started a new job. She became the editor for math problems in the journal School Science and Mathematics. She held this important position for a long time, until 1976.

In 1956, she moved to San Diego State University. She taught mathematics there for many years. She retired as a professor in 1976. Margaret Willerding passed away on December 29, 2003.

Books Written by Margaret Willerding

Margaret Willerding wrote more than 30 math textbooks. Here are some of them:

• The Business of Mathematics (1977)
• College Algebra and Trigonometry (with Stephen Hoffman, 1971; 2nd ed., 1975)
• Elementary Mathematics: Its Structure and Concepts (1966)
• A First Course in College Mathematics: Module 4—The Integers and Their Operations; Equations and Inequalities; Squares, Square Roots, and Similar Triangles (1975)
• Mathematics: The Alphabet of Science (with Ruth A. Hayward, 2nd ed., 1972)
• Modern Intermediate Algebra (2nd ed., 1975)
• The Numbers Game (1977)
• A Probability Primer (1968)