This is an interesting publication of conference proceedings on the desirable core curriculum for undergraduate mathematics majors. While all contributions are made from a US American perspective, many of the considerations and proposals may be of interest worldwide, for all mathematicians working at tertiary level and interested in the reform of mathematics education. After a precise introduction of John A. Dossey one finds challenging papers on: core curriculum issues (L.A. Steen), discrete mathematics (A. Tucker), calculus (W. Roberts), linear algebra (D.R. Latorre), differential equations (J.V. Herod), probability and statistics (D.S. Moore); and for each paper there is a selected collection of response articles. The publication ends with some concrete institutional examples of curriculum changes in various universities.
In general the main issues of contents and problems of reform of mathematics curriculum for undergraduates are faced, proposals are formulated and controversial ideas are confronted. Perhaps in some cases there is a strong emphasis on the core curriculum problem seen by mathematicians, departments and institutions and there is a lack of educational analysis from the point of view of “the learner”.
Readers involved in mathematics education at university level will benefit from reading this publication. It would be nice if other associations and countries would generate similar documents with the quality and the educational interest of this one.