I need a topic that would be good to write 4000 words on. This topic can come from any mathematics subjects. I prefer not to write about math history or anything that relates to history. Can anyone suggest a good topic to write about that relates more to pure mathematics than history of mathematics? Also, please try to keep your suggestions on the college level or at least the high school level. Thanks. I also wanna add that I have taken Calculus and soany topic that goes up til calculus is fine.
2006-09-05 17:08:59 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
A few suggestions:
* practical use for integration - i.e., how "the area under the curve" is used to make decisions in real life. You can take a financial twist to this, for example, taking two different payment options that have the same NPV but have different cash flows.
* an essay on cool and strange constants. Or special numbers, or the where the current research on prime numbers is at.
* Check out clay institute for the current "unsolved" problems and write something about one of them.
* Math and applicability to puzzles. One of my favorite sites:
http://www.stetson.edu/~efriedma/puzzle.html
2006-09-05 17:18:54 · answer #1 · answered by Jeff A 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1) Fermat's Last Theorem
2) Poincare's Conjecture
3) Any of the other Clay Millenium Prize problems for that matter
4) The life of Erdos.
5) The evolution of the values of pi or e, several popular texts available on both.
6) The importance of mathematics in modular arithmetic, especially in base 2 which created the home computer.
7) Math Coding theory, especially its basis in the 40s with Shannon's works and how it relates to modern space missions and internet communications.
2006-09-05 17:57:33 · answer #2 · answered by merlin2530 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. Continued Fractions. Which are periodic, why do they give good rational approximations to real numbers, what is the relationship to the Euclidean algorithm?
2. The Ackermann function, as a way to describe *very* large numbers. Can you use it to describe how many atoms are in the universe, etc.?
3. The Cantor Set, other fractals
4. "Constructible numbers": via ruler and compass, or origami
5. Conway's Surreal numbers
6. Siteswap notation for juggling
7. Polyhedra, star polyhedra, symmetries, Hilbert's 3rd problem, 4 dimensional polyhedra, etc.
8. Wallpaper symmetries, penrose tilings, crystallographic groups
9. Latin squares and their relation to Sudoku
10. Knots and braids
11. Catalan numbers
12. Mersenne primes, perfect numbers, Fermat numbers
13. The Brachistochrome problem
14. p-adic numbers
15. Quaternions, Octonions, and Sedenions
Let us know which one you pick!
2006-09-06 02:17:45 · answer #3 · answered by Steven S 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, I can't think of any mathematical topic that would be good for an essay except for history. You could try writing about a mathematician, it would still be history but you could probably find a topic that is fairly recent. Could you combine science into it? If so I would assume there would be many topics.
2006-09-05 17:16:35 · answer #4 · answered by thatcanadiangirl2003 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some suggestions:
1. The Magic of PI, this is found in everywhere, religion, nature, space, etc, taylor series, trigonometry, lots to write about
2. The Substance of Zero, write about the importance of the discovery of 0 and how limits work approaching 0. Someone had written a thesis on this.
3. Write about coordinates, Cartesian coordinates, Polar coordinates, Double integrals in polar coordinates etc
4. Fibonacci numbers in Nature.
2006-09-05 17:28:03 · answer #5 · answered by ideaquest 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I could select a person to write about in a mathematics-related term-paper, it would probably be René Descartes. One of my instructors had a fixation on his biography and after awhile, I started paying attention to the little stories he told about him, even though it wasn't really all that relevant to the things we were learning.
2006-09-05 19:40:12 · answer #6 · answered by Candidus 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The golden mean - Just type those words on Yahoo search line and there is lots of information on it. I wrote a paper on it when I was in school.
2006-09-05 17:22:55 · answer #7 · answered by kkinkajoo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have always been interested in how math impacts our everyday lives and how what the teachers say doesn't sink in until real life hits us in the face!
2006-09-05 17:21:06 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The actual use of math in the real world. When will you need any of the things you have learned? What fields will it be of use?
2006-09-05 17:14:53 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i cant i am searching fo a maths topic which has only 250 words limit
2006-09-05 17:14:47 · answer #10 · answered by How are u? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋