Senior Kaleb Waite

Rockhurst senior Kaleb Waite presented his research titled “Using Recursion to Solve the Pill Problem,” at a national meeting of the Mathematical Association of America in Madison, Wis., July 31-Aug. 2. He and his faculty adviser, Keith Brandt, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of mathematics, plan to submit their findings for publication this fall.

The idea for the research came from Brandt when he and a local store ran out of vitamin C tablets. Brandt shared his experience with his students, and Waite quickly scooped up the opportunity for a research project for which he earned the James and Elizabeth Monahan Summer Research Fellowship from the math department.

To understand Waite's research, it's helpful to imagine a full bottle of pills. The user needs one half of a pill each day, so the first one is cut in half. As time passes, the probability of pulling a half pill from the bottle increases. Waite's research was focused on finding a mathematical way to determine the likelihood of each result over time.

“I liked the style we used,” Waite said. “There are so many different angles to look at this problem. Going to Mathfest was the best part of the project. Being able to interact with others involved in math made the summer worthwhile.”

Waite will graduate in May 2009 with majors in mathematics, physics and philosophy, and a minor in computer science.