Need ideas!!

mathslackers · 2007-09-14 16:36:38

Well, hi everyone. We are new to the forum. Thats right, WE. We are a group of students actually. We just decided to pop in as we were seriously needing some ideas for this project. We dont know if you have heard of this project, but it is called the Singapore Maths Festival Project. Basically, you have to find a real life problem that can be solved using math. It doesnt really have to be a problem, it can be anything that you want to find out or calculate, but it must be a real life situation.

Please do give us ideas if you have any!! We will be very grateful to you!!

Thanks alot!!

Aditi and Janani

landof+ · 2007-09-14 18:56:53

How about an investigation? Say... make a dog walking bussiness. There are certain restrictions, so certain dogs cannot be walked with each other. Try to find a least number of trips that the person can walk the dogs in?

mathslackers · 2007-09-14 19:16:22

Hey!! Thanks alot for your idea. I will propose that idea to my teacher and see what she says. Continue giving ideas!! It may be better!! If not, I am settling for this. Thanks so much again. Before this we were blank in the head.

Aditi & Janani

Identity · 2007-09-14 19:19:30

Good idea landof+, you could do one of those river crossing questions as well.

Finding the path of a projectile is also a classic problem, if you interested in analysis.

Or maybe analyse the strength of certain polygons when weight is applied to them, and find the best polygons to be used for certain constructions.

Or maybe you could investigate the uses of trigonometry in ship navigation and how important it is to make sure the navigator's math is right. (You could even talk about how the curvature of the earth affects navigation)

By the way, what level is your math at?

Last edited by Identity (2007-09-14 19:21:08)

mathslackers · 2007-09-14 19:33:57

Wow... You guys are genius!! We sat thinking for hours and could not come up with anything!! Now I have so many propositions. Really happy and greatful!! Thank you so much!! Keep it comeing in though!! The more the merrier!!

Thanks so much.
Aditi & Janani

mathslackers · 2007-09-15 17:06:52

Oops, I forgot to answer your question Identity. Our level of math is about secondary 1, I think it is about grade 7. We are 13 year olds.

Aditi & Janani

Last edited by mathslackers (2007-09-15 17:07:17)

Identity · 2007-09-15 19:33:48

Well then my ideas aren't going to be much good, are they . Oh well, I'll try to think of some more.

landof+ · 2007-09-15 20:23:57

Well, my idea is much too simple for 13 year olds, theyre meant for 10 to 11 year olds. You are from Methodist Girls' School right? Shouldn't be a problem for students there...

Identity · 2007-09-15 21:29:37

I don't think so, logic problems can become very difficult if you allow sufficient restrictions. By the way, in Australia you learn trigonometry and quadratics in Grade 8, and that's only if you're in an enhancement class.

I assume that volume has been covered, so how about investigating filling polyhedrons with water? Water could be poured in at a certain rate, and you have to find how high it will be after a certain time. You could have irregular polyhedrons, such as cubes stacked on top of spheres. You could also graph the rates at which they fill etc.

If its convenient, you migh also like to try a problem in statistics. You could go out and survey people about things like how much homework they do, compile your results, find the mean, median, range etc.. of your results, and graph them using different methods. Try to find correlations between different types of data, in the end try to draw conclusions about your findings.

Or maybe something related to pricing. You could analyse different deals available for a certain item and decide which one is the best. If you have covered interest you could incorporate that too. You could do a similar thing for wages when applying for a job.

mathslackers · 2007-09-16 00:14:04

Thank you so much for your help, you guys have got no idea how greatful we really are.

landof+ wrote:

Well, my idea is much too simple for 13 year olds, theyre meant for 10 to 11 year olds. You are from Methodist Girls' School right? Shouldn't be a problem for students there...

Well, THAT's the whole problem, "good school=high expectations".

Identity wrote:

Well then my ideas aren't going to be much good, are they . Oh well, I'll try to think of some more.

Actually, they were quite useful. As we said earlier, our school has really high expectations. Plus, we are actually given alot of time to work on the project. We have to submit our proposals by October 15th, and submit our selected project completed by 7th January next year. Because of our long time-line, we are required to study a particular topic and work on our project. We are starting slightly earlier as our end-of-year exams are from Oct 1st to 14th, so we wouldnt have time after that.

Thank you so much again!!

Aditi & Janani

landof+ · 2007-09-16 01:15:06

Identity wrote:

I don't think so, logic problems can become very difficult if you allow sufficient restrictions. By the way, in Australia you learn trigonometry and quadratics in Grade 8, and that's only if you're in an enhancement class.
I assume that volume has been covered, so how about investigating filling polyhedrons with water? Water could be poured in at a certain rate, and you have to find how high it will be after a certain time. You could have irregular polyhedrons, such as cubes stacked on top of spheres. You could also graph the rates at which they fill etc.
If its convenient, you migh also like to try a problem in statistics. You could go out and survey people about things like how much homework they do, compile your results, find the mean, median, range etc.. of your results, and graph them using different methods. Try to find correlations between different types of data, in the end try to draw conclusions about your findings.
Or maybe something related to pricing. You could analyse different deals available for a certain item and decide which one is the best. If you have covered interest you could incorporate that too. You could do a similar thing for wages when applying for a job.

In Singapore, students learn that at age 11 or 12...

mathslackers · 2007-09-16 01:19:53

Hey!! Are you from Singapore?

landof+ · 2007-09-16 01:21:55

The first to guess it. (or even want to)

mathslackers · 2007-09-16 01:24:29

So, does that mean I am right?

John E. Franklin · 2007-09-16 12:22:50

You could develop some secret codes that use mathematics to make the secret message, and then the decipherer has to know how to undo the math problems.
Like let's say the message was, "The spy plane will fly at midnight."
Now, T is the 20th letter of the alphabet, for this code I am making up,
you subtract 20 from 100, and get 80.
Now you will notice all the letters will range from 99 for A to 74 for Z.
Now you have to divide the sentence in half.
So count the letters in the sentence.
Remove all the spaces too.
So, "Thespyplanewillflyatmidnight" must be counted up and divided in half.
There are 28 letters, but if it was odd, then you just add a "Q" on the end to
make it even.
So now you have two 14 letter sections.
"Thespyplanewil" and "lflyatmidnight".
Now you could combine the two sections by going back and forth between them
like a zebra.
"Tl hf el sy pa yt pm li ad nn ei wg ih lt".

To be continued if I edit this...

mathslackers · 2007-09-16 15:26:30

Yea!! Thats a good one!! Will consider it for our proposal!!

Aditi & Janani

landof+ · 2007-09-16 19:08:23

mathslackers wrote:

So, does that mean I am right?

I think so, if not, what else could it be?

mathslackers · 2007-09-17 00:05:55

Haha... Thx alot for all your help though!

landof+ · 2007-09-17 00:07:02

Fear not, for this is the 'Help Me!' Section, right?

mathslackers · 2007-09-17 00:09:40

Lolx!! True... true...

John E. Franklin · 2007-09-17 11:28:14

What about music, and notating it down, like written music.
That isn't mathematics, but if you construe ideas enough you might be
able to make it look like math if you are really creative.
Because there is the volume, waveforms made of changing frequencies,
and various repeating shapes of waveforms for different instruments, which
make the timbre or beauty of different sounds recognizable.
Also rhythm is mathematical. The possibilities are endless, but you will
have to give it a lot of thought before you can actually get it approved.
Different cultures use notes and scales that are unlike European scales.
And Bach's tempered clavier could be examined as to what this all means.
Like the 12th root of 2, or going by ratios and harmonics for the guitar when
you lightly touch a string. Lot's of things could be investigated.
Also Vivaldi seems really chromatic to me, versus Beotoven mispelt, who is
just incomprehensibly genius...

John E. Franklin · 2007-09-18 09:49:29

Also, another project could be to try to design a better golf ball.
Try to come up with a better placement for the 236 dimples or so.
Add more or less.
A "Trivial Puruit" card tells the exact number, but not sure if is 236.

Web says 336 American, and 330 British ball.

Dimples create turbulence, which reduces drag in the air.
Spinning ball creates lift in some directions of rotation.

Last edited by John E. Franklin (2007-09-18 09:58:00)

landof+ · 2007-09-19 00:51:29

Or very very very very complex Permutation and Combination.... I hate those lot's of calculation especially when you have to do factiorials (!)!!

mathslackers · 2007-09-19 20:41:06

Yea... it sure does require lots of calculations...

And to John E. Franklin, thanks a lot for your suggestion too...
It was creative thinking, all of you... We are greatful!!

Last edited by mathslackers (2007-09-20 00:47:54)

landof+ · 2007-09-19 21:09:57

We are!

You're welcome!

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2007-09-14 16:36:38

Need ideas!!

#2 2007-09-14 18:56:53

Re: Need ideas!!

#3 2007-09-14 19:16:22

Re: Need ideas!!

#4 2007-09-14 19:19:30

Re: Need ideas!!

#5 2007-09-14 19:33:57

Re: Need ideas!!

#6 2007-09-15 17:06:52

Re: Need ideas!!

#7 2007-09-15 19:33:48

Re: Need ideas!!

#8 2007-09-15 20:23:57

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#9 2007-09-15 21:29:37

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#10 2007-09-16 00:14:04

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#11 2007-09-16 01:15:06

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#12 2007-09-16 01:19:53

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#13 2007-09-16 01:21:55

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#14 2007-09-16 01:24:29

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#15 2007-09-16 12:22:50

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#16 2007-09-16 15:26:30

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#17 2007-09-16 19:08:23

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#18 2007-09-17 00:05:55

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#19 2007-09-17 00:07:02

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#20 2007-09-17 00:09:40

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#21 2007-09-17 11:28:14

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#22 2007-09-18 09:49:29

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#23 2007-09-19 00:51:29

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#24 2007-09-19 20:41:06

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#25 2007-09-19 21:09:57

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