Arthur T. Benjamin

Arthur T. Benjamin is an American mathematician who specializes in combinatorics. Since 1989 he has been a professor at Harvey Mudd College. He is known for mental math capabilities and mathemagics performances. These have included shows at the Magic Castle and TED. He has a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University (1983) and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University (1989); his PhD dissertation was titled "Turnpike Structures for Optimal Maneuvers". Durin... more

Arthur T. Benjamin is an American mathematician who specializes in combinatorics. Since 1989 he has been a professor at Harvey Mudd College. He is known for mental math capabilities and mathemagics performances. These have included shows at the Magic Castle and TED. He has a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University (1983) and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University (1989); his PhD dissertation was titled "Turnpike Structures for Optimal Maneuvers". During his freshman year at CMU he wrote the lyrics and created the magic effects for the musical comedy, Kije!, in collaboration with author Scott McGregor and composer Arthur Darrell Turner. This musical was the winner of an annual competition and was first performed as the CMU's Spring Musical in 1980. The Mathematical Association of America gave him a regional award for distinguished teaching in 1999 and a national one in 2000. He was the Mathematical Association of America's George Polya Lecturer for 2006-8. He also filmed a series of The... less