Faculty Profile: Professor of Mathematics Arthur Benjamin

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Professor Benjamin playing a board game from his collection. Photo credit: Art Benjamin

Professor Arthur T. Benjamin is a mathematician and magician who has been in Harvey Mudd’s Math Department since 1989, where he currently occupies the position of the Smallwood Family Professor of Mathematics. He graduated in applied mathematics with highest honors at Carnegie Mellon University in 1983 and received his Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in 1989. 

Prof. Benjamin was drawn to teach at HMC because of its outstanding students. He loved that the students really cared about learning and the college truly cared about teaching, and provided ample support to faculty and students for collaborative research. 

Outside of class, Prof. Benjamin has numerous interests, many of which involve games. His love for games as a child led to an increased interest in mathematics, as he wished to understand how to play certain games better. Nowadays, he is also a competitive Backgammon player, having won several tournaments, including the 2020 American Backgammon Tour Online (ABTO). Additionally, Prof. Benjamin is known throughout the world for his Mathemagics presentations, where he demonstrates and explains how he performs mental calculations faster than a calculator.

While advising prospective students, Professor Benjamin believes that students should take the classes they enjoy the most without being overly concerned about how they will look on your college application. “If you take classes you are passionate about and you are a good student, you are sure to get the attention of many good colleges”.