Papers and Presentations for MAT194

This page features tips for your paper, which is (generally) associated with your overall presentation.

The best way to understand mathematics is to learn and discover it on one's own.

The best way to describe this paper is to imagine that you are responsible for creating a "Mathematical Idea You Really Need to Know" (this is a reference to a book by the title 50 Mathematical Ideas You Really Need to Know, by Tony Crilly, full of four-page descriptions of some 50 mathematical topics. (You can skim a copy in the Math Office, found among the Course Textbooks; or arrange to have a look at a copy when I am on campus; you'll also notice that they're available for a few bucks, if you just want to get one and use it as a resource.)

Typically I ask students to do this as a separate exercise: You will select a mathematical topic outside of (or beyond) those covered in our class, seeking help (if necessary) to gain the necessary background to understand it, and then write up a four-page description.

• Details on the "paper", which will come in three parts:
  • Text: 4 (type-written) pages of text.
  • You will include a one-page bibliography, including at least three sources in your bibliography (including at least one book, and an article worth citing).
  • Finally an appendix, which may include additional material supporting your work in the four-page "idea" (graphs, charts, images, etc.). You should have something visually exciting (see below).

  This year I had you write up responses to presentations you'd seen made at the KYMAA.

  Since many of you did not "attend" the KYMAA, you will need to put the spotlight on some piece of mathematics, perhaps using the format described above. Those of you who did attend may want to put the spotlight on some other piece of mathematics. Again, using the format above would be fine.

• You want your work to be attractive. Think flowers and bees! We are going to put our presentations on the web. You want to make sure that your "story" will stand up well alongside those that your classmates produce.

• It should also be informative, however, so make sure that you do the research. In particular you will want to use a variety of resources, including some that do not appear on the web.

  Your peers will evaluate your work (as will I, and perhaps other members of the department). We'll present our work to each other on the wiki. There will be no live presentation.

• Whatever you do, don't plagiarize! Whenever you copy something from a source, you need to cite the source; simply changing an adjective here and an adverb there, without citation, is plagiarism.

• Remember interlibrary loan: even if we don't have the article or book in our library, you can borrow it from other libraries via interlibrary loan. Ask your librarians for help: they're here to assist you!

• Feel free to reach out to me (e.g. email me) with questions, or to discuss ideas for subject matter. Crilly's book is a good place to start for finding ideas (and for getting an idea of the magnitude of the paper I have in mind).