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For Immediate Release
February 18, 2003
MATH PROFESSOR BREAKS DRIVER’S LICENSE
CODES
Speaker Says Your License Reveals More Than You Think
Lincoln, Neb.— Does your driver’s license
reveal more than your age, weight and height?
A Minnesota math professor says he has broken Nebraska’s
driver’s license codes, and that the complicated formulas
assigned to driver’s licenses really do have meaning.
Dr. Joseph Gallian, a distinguished professor of
teaching and mathematics at the University of Minnesota-Duluth,
will share his secret to breaking drivers license codes during a
lecture series at Nebraska Wesleyan University. The presentation
will be held Thursday, February 27 at 1 p.m. in the Olin Hall of
Science.
Gallian says many states keep their code methods
confidential. The confidentiality intrigued him and he took a closer
look at them "just for the fun of it." The lecture series
audience will include members of Nebraska Wesleyan’s Honors
Academy, a new program for gifted and highly motivated high school
juniors and seniors, which provides an opportunity to earn undergraduate
credit. Approximately 100 students from Hebron, Hastings, Lexington,
and Lincoln (Honors Academy members) will be present. Gallian says
his talk illustrates an important problem-solving technique and
teaches the lesson that sometimes things done "just for the
fun of it" can have applications.
Gallian’s code-breaking has been featured
in the Washington Post, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Orlando Sentinel
and Science News.
Media Note: Media are invited to
Dr. Gallian’s presentation. Olin Hall of Science is located
at 50th and Madison Avenue. Individual interviews can also be arranged
by contacting Sara Olson at 465-2185.
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