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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

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.