November 30, 2007

Reinventing the Wheel

By MARY ANDOM

How do you make a square-wheeled bicycle roll smoothly? A group of mathematics students at Saint Norbert College discovered that changing the shape of the road would allow the square wheels to spin effortlessly.

Terry Jo Leiterman, an associate professor of mathematics, says there were many bumps along the way: The pedals scraped the road at first, the track wasn't long enough, and the wheels had to be altered.

"They made many mistakes, but with teamwork and a renewed confidence