The term paper for this course is an original mathematical exposition on a topic of your choice. The purpose of this assignment is to give you practice in applying all of the ideas that we will learn in this class.
Although creativity and mathematical insight are important qualities to have in one's writing, in this assignment we are mainly concerned with the writing challenges that are unique to the mathematical sciences. You are not expected to present an original result in your paper, nor does the topic have to be something on the cutting edge of current research. Rather, you are expected to demonstrate ability to write a clear, concise, well-organized, attractively presented mathematical paper. For this reason, it is necessary for your paper to contain a non-trivial amount of equations and symbols. It is also good (but not necessary) to include graphs, figures and tables in your paper.
Your paper must be composed on a computer. You may use any document preparation system you wish (for example, FrameMaker, Microsoft Word). However, I strongly recommend that you use LaTeX.
Try to keep your paper between 10 and 12 pages, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
Remember to document your sources by creating a bibliography. Try to find both articles and books for your paper.
More information is available on these pages:
Grading. The term paper accounts for 50% of your final course grade. Your paper will be assessed in the following four categories:
Due Dates. Turn in a short proposal describing your paper by Wednesday, January 17. Your proposal needs to include at least one potential source that you will use. A first draft of your paper must be turned in by Wednesday, February 21. It will be returned to you the following Monday, and you can submit revised drafts any time after that. You can submit more than one revision, but your final draft must be turned in by Friday, March 9.
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