Bryan Bischof, a Westminster College senior mathematics major, and co-researcher Andrew Perriello, an undergraduate student at Penn State University New Kensington, recently gave a talk on their joint research, "On the Images of Integer Coefficient Polynomials," at MathFest, the annual summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, in San Jose, Calif.

Penn State New Kensington, Professor Javier Gomez was their research advisor. Bischof and Perriello presented research based on their abstract: "It is well known that a non-constant polynomial f (x) with integer coefficients produces at least one composite image. We improve this elementary result and show that f (x) produces an infinite number of composite images. We will also show that f (x) produces an infinite number of images with an arbitrary number of prime factors. More precisely, we will show that given a positive integer n, we can find an infinite number of images that are divided by at least n distinct primes, and an infinite number of images that are divided by a prime power where."

Barbara Faires, a Westminster College mathematics professor, was in attendance. She is a member of the National Gung Hu Award Committee that recognizes an individual for outstanding contributions to mathematics and just completed a term on the Mathematical Association Nominating Committee.

Bischof is a son of Steve Salvatora of Gibsonia and Diane Salvatora of New Kensington and a graduate of Valley High School.

Contact Bischof at bischobe@westminster.edu or Faires at (724) 946-7293 or e-mail faires@westminster.edu for more information.