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An Application Of The Pagerank Algorithm To Ncaa Football Team Rankings, Morgan Majors May 2023

An Application Of The Pagerank Algorithm To Ncaa Football Team Rankings, Morgan Majors

Honors Theses

We investigate the use of Google’s PageRank algorithm to rank sports teams. The PageRank algorithm is used in web searches to return a list of the websites that are of most interest to the user. The structure of the NCAA FBS football schedule is used to construct a network with a similar structure to the world wide web. Parallels are drawn between pages that are linked in the world wide web with the results of a contest between two sports teams. The teams under consideration here are the members of the 2021 Football Bowl Subdivision. We achieve a total ordering …


Length Bias Estimation Of Small Businesses Lifetime, Simeng Li Apr 2023

Length Bias Estimation Of Small Businesses Lifetime, Simeng Li

Honors Theses

Small businesses, particularly restaurants, play a crucial role in the economy by generating employment opportunities, boosting tourism, and contributing to the local economy. However, accurately estimating their lifetimes can be challenging due to the presence of length bias, which occurs when the likelihood of sampling any particular restaurant's closure is influenced by its duration in operation. To address the issue, this study conducts goodness-of-fit tests on exponential/gamma family distributions and employs the Kaplan-Meier method to more accurately estimate the average lifetime of restaurants in Carytown. By providing insights into the challenges of estimating the lifetimes of small businesses, this study …


Finding The Common Denominator: Understanding The Shared Experiences Of Female Math Majors, Abigail R. Rosenbaum Jan 2023

Finding The Common Denominator: Understanding The Shared Experiences Of Female Math Majors, Abigail R. Rosenbaum

Honors Theses

Despite efforts to increase gender diversity in STEM fields, women remain underrepresented in mathematics, especially in advanced academic and research positions. This study aimed to explore the experiences of female math majors as they attempt to navigate this male-dominated space. Through qualitative interviews with seven female math majors, two female math professors, and a focus group with education majors at Woodbridge College, small liberal arts college in the United States, several common themes were identified that define the experiences of female math majors. The findings suggest that math is held at an elevated status in society and that there is …


The Calculus Of Variations, Erin Whitney Jun 2012

The Calculus Of Variations, Erin Whitney

Honors Theses

The Calculus of Variations is a highly applicable and advancing field. My thesis has only scraped the top of the applications and theoretical work that is possible within this branch of mathematics. To summarize, we began by exploring a general problem common to this field, finding the geodesic be-tween two given points. We then went on to define and explore terms and concepts needed to further delve into the subject matter. In Chapter 2, we examined a special set of smooth functions, inspired by the Calabi extremal metric, and used some general theory of convex functions in order to de-termine …


A Comparison Of Van Hiele Levels And Final Exam Grades Of Students At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Cononiah Watson May 2012

A Comparison Of Van Hiele Levels And Final Exam Grades Of Students At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Cononiah Watson

Honors Theses

This research analyzed students final exam scores in a college mathematics class with geometric components and their van Hiele levels upon entering the class. After the class was completed, each student’s final exam grade was calculated. The researcher used a Spearman correlation to compare the two; the result was a correlation coefficient of 0.742. The researcher then reported that the results of the van Hiele test are a major component in predicting a student’s success in such a class.