# Alexander Soifer

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**Alexander Soifer** is a [Russian](/source/Russia)-born American [mathematician](/source/Mathematician) and [mathematics](/source/Mathematics) author.[1]

Soifer obtained his [Ph.D.](/source/Ph.D.) in 1973[2] and became a [professor](/source/Professor) of mathematics at the University of Colorado in 1979. He was visiting fellow at [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University) from 2002 to 2004, and again from 2006 to 2007. Soifer also teaches courses on [art history](/source/Art_history) and [European cinema](/source/European_cinema). His publications include 13 books and over 400 articles.

In 1991, Soifer established *Geombinatorics*,[3] a quarterly [scientific journal](/source/Scientific_journal) of mathematics, and also acts as its publisher with its [editorial board](/source/Editorial_board) through the [University of Colorado Colorado Springs](/source/University_of_Colorado_Colorado_Springs) as of 2026.[4] The journal covers problems in [discrete](/source/Discrete_geometry), [convex](/source/Convex_geometry), and [combinatorial geometry](/source/Combinatorial_geometry), as well as related areas. *Geombinatorics* is indexed in [Zentralblatt MATH](/source/Zentralblatt_MATH),[5] [Excellence in Research for Australia](/source/Excellence_in_Research_for_Australia), and [MathSciNet](/source/MathSciNet).[6]

In July 2006 at the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge), Soifer was presented with the [Paul Erdős Award](/source/Paul_Erd%C5%91s_Award) by the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions.

Soifer was the President of the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions from 2012 to 2018.[7] His [Erdős number](/source/Erd%C5%91s_number) is 1.[8]

## Soifer Mathematical Olympiad

Every year, Soifer, along with other mathematician colleagues, sponsors the **Soifer Mathematical Olympiad** (formerly known as the **Colorado Mathematical Olympiad** (CMO)) at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Soifer founded the CMO on April 18, 1983,[9] and compiles and writes most of the problems for the contest.

For the Olympiad's 30th anniversary, the university produced a film about it.[10]

In May 2018, in recognition of 35 years of leadership, the judges and winners decided to rename the Colorado Mathematical Olympiad to the Soifer Mathematical Olympiad.

## Selected books

- *The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden* Springer, New York, 2015 (publisher: Birkhauser-Springer, Basel)[11]
- *Mathematics as Problem Solving* Center for Excellence in Mathematical Education, Colorado Springs, 1987
- *How does one cut a triangle?* Center for Excellence in Mathematical Education, Colorado Springs, 1990
- *Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First Ten Years and Further Explorations* Center for Excellence in Mathematical Education, Colorado Springs, 1991
- *Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics* Center for Excellence in Mathematical Education, Colorado Springs, 1994
- *[The Mathematical Coloring Book](/source/The_Mathematical_Coloring_Book)* Springer, New York 2009[12]
- *Mathematics as Problem Solving* 2nd ed. Springer, New York 2009[13]
- *How Does One Cut a Triangle?* 2nd ed. Springer, New York 2009[14]
- *The Colorado Mathematical Olympiad and Further Explorations: From the Mountains of Colorado to the Peaks of Mathematics* Springer, New York 2011[15]
- *The Colorado Mathematical Olympiad; The Third Decade and Further Explorations: From the Mountains of Colorado to the Peaks of Mathematics* Springer, New York 2017 [16]
- *Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics* 2nd ed. Springer, New York 2010[17]
- *Ramsey Theory: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, (editor and contributor)* Birkhäuser-Springer 2011[18]
- *Life and Fate: In Search of Van der Waerden*, appeared in November 2008 in Russian. The expanded English edition, *The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden*, was published by Birkhäuser-Springer in 2017.
- *[The New Mathematical Coloring Book](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-0716-3597-1)*, Springer, New York, 2024. The new 2024 book doubles the volume of the original 2009 monograph.

## References

1. Pasquale, Cynthia (2015-05-07). ["Five questions for Alexander Soifer"](https://connections.cu.edu/spotlights/five-questions-alexander-soifer). *CU Connections*. Retrieved 2022-02-19.

1. ["Geombinatorics Quarterly"](https://geombina.uccs.edu/). *Geombinatorics Quarterly*. 2021-10-01. Retrieved 2022-10-21.

1. ["Editorial Board"](https://geombina.uccs.edu/editorial-board). *Geombinatorics Quarterly*. Retrieved 2022-10-21.

1. ["Serials Database"](https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055348/https://www.zentralblatt-math.org/serials/). *[Zentralblatt MATH](/source/Zentralblatt_MATH)*. [Springer Science+Business Media](/source/Springer_Science%2BBusiness_Media). Archived from [the original](http://www.zentralblatt-math.org/serials/) on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2018-07-28.

1. ["Geombinatorics"](https://www.journalguide.com/journals/geombinatorics). *JournalGuide*. Retrieved 2018-07-28.

1. ["About WFNMC"](https://www.wfnmc.org/about.html). *World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions*. Retrieved 2026-01-23.

1. Erdős, Paul; Soifer, Alexander - Squares in a square. Geombinatorics 4 (1995), no. 4, 110–114

1. ["The Soifer Mathematical Olympiad"](https://soifermathematicalolympiad.uccs.edu/). *The Soifer Mathematical Olympiad*. 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2022-10-21.

1. ["The Colorado Mathematical Olympiad with Dr. Alex Soifer, UCCS professor"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOTiA4YWU-k). *[YouTube](/source/YouTube)*. 13 May 2014.

1. Soifer, Alexander (2015). *The scholar and the state : in search of Van der Waerden*. Basel: Birkhauser-Springer. ISBN 978-3-0348-0712-8. [OCLC 895254746](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/895254746)

1. Soifer, Alexander (2009). *The mathematical coloring book : mathematics of coloring and the colorful life of its creators*. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-74642-5. [OCLC 310352147](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/310352147)

1. Soifer, Alexander (2009). *Mathematics as problem solving*. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-74647-0. [OCLC 405547110](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/405547110)

1. Soifer, Alexander (2009). *How does one cut a triangle?*. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-74652-4. [OCLC 434508637](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/434508637)

1. Soifer, Alexander (2011). *Colorado Mathematical Olympiad : the first twenty years and further explorations*. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-75472-7. [OCLC 728100145](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/728100145)

1. Soifer, Alexander (2017). *The Colorado Mathematical Olympiad : the third decade and further explorations : from the mountains of Colorado to the peaks of mathematics*. Cham: Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-52861-8. [OCLC 985909262](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/985909262)

1. Soifer, Alexander (2010). *Geometric etudes in combinatorial mathematics*. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-75470-3. [OCLC 643102260](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/643102260)

1. Soifer, Alexander (ed.) (2011). *Ramsey theory : yesterday, today, and tomorrow*. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-8176-8092-3. [OCLC 682907435](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/682907435)

## External links

- [Official website](https://www.uccs.edu/asoifer/)
- [*Geombinatorics*](https://geombina.uccs.edu/)
- [Soifer Mathematical Olympiad](https://olympiad.uccs.edu/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alexander Soifer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Soifer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Soifer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.