Abstract
This paper presents an extended project that offers, through American football, an application of concepts from enumerative combinatorics and an introduction to proofs course. The questions in this paper and subsequent details concerning equivalence relations and counting techniques can be used to reinforce these new topics to students in such a transition-to-proofs-type course or to offer an application of known theoretical mathematics to students with more advanced understanding in the major.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Tricia Muldoon Brown
Tricia Muldoon Brown is an Assistant Professor at Armstrong State University in Savannah, GA. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky and is interested in algebraic combinatorics and recreational mathematics. She spends most of her free time with her husband and two children, but also enjoys reading, watching sports, and playing poker.
Eric B. Kahn
Eric B. Kahn received his undergraduate education at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio and graduate education at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. He strives to engage students with mathematics in similar manners and with equal passion to his professors from Kenyon. Aside from academia, he enjoys cooking, reading, racquetball, and spending time with his wife and dog.