Final Project

 

Submit your final project through CANVAS. Recall that the due date is Monday, November 27, 2017. Also, this project is a mandatory part of the class and fulfills Gen Ed requirements (UK Core Quantitative Reasoning Rubric). Be sure to make it clear who all the members of group are!

This page provides some guidelines and suggestions for possible final projects for MA 137. You can choose any other project of your choice provided it has both a substantial mathematical component (related to what we learned in MA 137) and an adequate biological and/or medical interest. You can freely draw your projects from the World Wide Web. The following website maintained by the author of our textbook is also a valuable source of information:

http://bioquest.org/numberscount/

While putting together your final project please make sure that it clearly conveys:

  • your ability to explain information presented in mathematical forms through equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, words (Interpretation);
  • your ability to convert relevant information into various mathematical forms through equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, words (Representation);
  • your ability with calculations (Calculation);
  • your ability to make judgments and draw appropriate conclusions based on the quantitative analysis of data, while recognizing the limits of this analysis (Application/Analysis);
  • your ability to make and evaluate important assumptions in estimation, modeling, and data analysis (Assumptions);
  • your ability in expressing quantitative evidence in support of the argument or purpose of the work (Communication).
Here are additional guidelines with which your paper must comply:

  1. You have to turn in a typewritten paper, at least four (4) pages long. It should be double spaced, it should use 12pt fonts (Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Arial);
  2. Your paper should not be in an itemized form but it should be written in a narrative/expository form. You can use sections and subsections. There must be an abstract, an introductory preamble and a final conclusion;
  3. You must quote, at the end of your paper, all the references that you used for your work;
  4. Your paper must provide historical and contextual facts and/or preliminary background material on the topic of your paper;
  5. Your paper must contain all the steps of your calculations (say, equation manipulations, derivatives, limits, and more). You must also indicate which properties you are using while doing your calculations (say, product rule, chain rule, etc...);
  6. Your paper must contain illustrative graphs and tables (Maple or Mathematica outputs, Excel spreadsheets, etc...);
  7. Your paper can be written by yourself or by a group of at most three students. Be sure to make it clear who all the members of your group are!
  8. Your project paper will be worth at most 20 points.

Please seek help from your instructor if you are uncertain on what to do. You can also seek a preliminary opinion from your instructor to determine whether you are doing satisfactory work. DO NOT WAIT until the last minute to complete your project and/or seek help.

Some suggested topics for a final project include:
  1. Recruitment Model -- Ricker's curve
  2. Gompertz Growth Model
  3. Discrete logistic equation
  4. Hematopoietic cell replication and control
  5. Bees collecting pollen and nectar -- Optimization
  6. Invasion of the Toads
  7. Invasion of the White Pine
  8. Epidemic models: HIV
  9. Epidemic Models: Yellow Fever in Senegal in 2002
  10. Allometric modeling
  11. Zombie Apocalypse
  12. Gorilla poaching