Department of Mathematics
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3806
(617) 552-3758
gross@bc.edu
Position:
Associate Professor of Mathematics
This web page contains my educational history, employment history, information about my books, some publications, information about courses that I’m teaching this year (2025–2026), information about Ideas in Math: The Grammar of Numbers, a course that Michael Connolly and I taught in the spring of 1998, and other useful stuff.
Education
A.B., 1979, Princeton
University.
Ph.D., 1986, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Thesis advisor:
Joseph Silverman.
Position:
Associate Professor of Mathematics
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Teaching Assistant | 1979–1983 |
| Northeastern University | Instructor | 1983 |
| Boston College | Instructor | 1984–6 |
| Boston College | Assistant Professor | 1986–93 |
| Boston College | Associate Professor | 1993–present |
| Boston University | Visiting Associate Professor | 1993–4, 2000–1 |
Elliptic Tales: Curves, Counting, and Number Theory, with Avner Ash. Princeton University Press, 2012. Reviews and errata.
Fearless Symmetry: Exposing the Hidden Patterns of Numbers, with Avner Ash. Princeton University Press, 2006, paperback 2009. Reviews and errata.
Getting Started with Mathematica®, with C-K. Cheung, G.E. Keough, and Charles Landraitis. Wiley, 2005.
Contributor to Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulæ, Thirty-first Edition, Edited by Daniel Zwillinger, CRC Press, 2003, New York.
Contributor to Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulæ, Thirtieth Edition, Edited by Daniel Zwillinger, CRC Press, 1996, New York.
“Lattice Packing by Spheres and Eutactic Forms,” with Avner Ash, Experimental Mathematics, 31:1, 2022, 302–308. Click here for PDF format.
“Frequencies of Successive Pairs of Prime Residues,” with Avner Ash, Laura Beltis, and Warren Sinnott, Experimental Mathematics, 20:4, 2011, 400–411. Click here for PDF format.
“Frequences of Successive Tuples of Frobenius Classes,” with Avner Ash and Brandon Bate, Experimental Mathematics, 18:1, 2009, 55–63. Click here for PDF format.
“Prime Specialization in Genus 0,” with Brian Conrad and Keith Conrad, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, 360:6, June, 2008, 2867–2908. Click here for PDF format.
“Generalized Non-abelian Reciprocity Laws: A Context for Wiles’s Proof,” with Avner Ash, Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, 32, 2000: 385–397. Click here for PDF format.
“A Generalization of a Conjecture of Hardy and Littlewood to Algebraic Number Fields,” with John H. Smith, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, 30:1, Spring, 2000: 195–215. Click here for PDF format.
“S-Integer Points on Elliptic Curves,” with Joseph Silverman, Pacific Journal of Mathematics, 167, 1995: 263–288. Click here for PDF format.
“On the Integrality of Some Galois Representations,” Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 123:1, January, 1995: 299–301. Click here for PDF format.
“A Note on Roth’s Theorem,” Journal of Number Theory, 36:1, September, 1990: 127–132. Click here for PDF format.
“Antigenesis: A Cascade Theoretical Analysis of the Size Distribution of Antigen-Antibody Complexes: Applications of graphs in chemistry and physics,” with John Kennedy, Lou Quintas, and Martin Yarmush. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 19:1–3, 1988: 177–194.
MATH3320.01: Introduction to Analysis
Fall
Prerequisites: MATH2202 (Multivariable Calculus) and
MATH2216 (Introduction to Abstract Mathematics).
This course gives students the theoretical foundations for the topics taught in Calculus. It covers algebraic and order properties of the real numbers, the least upper bound axiom, limits, continuity, differentiation, the Riemann integral, sequences, and series. Definitions and proofs will be stressed throughout the course.
Students may not take both MATH3320 and MATH3321
MATH4460.01: Complex Variables
Fall
Prerequisites: MATH2202 (Multivariable Calculus),
MATH2210 (Linear Algebra), and MATH2216
(Introduction to Abstract Mathematics)
This course gives an introduction to the theory of functions of a complex variable, a fundamental and central area of mathematics. It is intended for mathematics majors and minors, and science majors.
Topics covered include: complex numbers and their properties; analytic functions and the Cauchy–Riemann equations; the logarithm and other elementary functions of a complex variable; integration of complex functions; the Cauchy integral theorem and its consequences; power series representation of analytic functions; and the residue theorem and applications to definite integrals.
Class home page.
In the spring of 1998, Michael Connolly (the chair of the
Department of Slavic and Eastern European Languages) and I taught
a course called: MT007/SL266 Ideas in Mathematics: The
Grammar of Numbers. It had no prerequisites, and was
a core mathematics course for non-math and non-science majors. This
one-semester course studied the role of numbers, number names, and
number symbols in various cultures. Topics include number mysticism,
symbolism in religion and the arts, elementary number theory, number
representations, and calendars.
Texts: The Magic Numbers of Doctor Matrix, Martin Gardner.
Number Words and Number Symbols: A Cultural History of
Numbers, Karl Menninger.
Click here for more
information.