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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

New Implementations For Tabulating Pseudoprimes And Liars, Wuyang Liu Dec 2017

New Implementations For Tabulating Pseudoprimes And Liars, Wuyang Liu

Honors Projects

Whether it is applied to primality test or cryptography, pseudoprimes are one of the most important topics in number theory. Regarding the study of strong pseudoprimes, there are two problems which mathematicians have been working on:
1. Given a, b, find all a-spsp up to b.
2. Given an odd composite n, find all a -n such that n is an a-spsp.
where n = a-spsp means n is a strong pseudoprime to base a, and a is a strong liar of n.

The two problems are respectively referred to as …


Statistical Analysis Of Momentum In Basketball, Mackenzi Stump Dec 2017

Statistical Analysis Of Momentum In Basketball, Mackenzi Stump

Honors Projects

The “hot hand” in sports has been debated for as long as sports have been around. The debate involves whether streaks and slumps in sports are true phenomena or just simply perceptions in the mind of the human viewer. This statistical analysis of momentum in basketball analyzes the distribution of time between scoring events for the BGSU Women’s Basketball team from 2011-2017. We discuss how the distribution of time between scoring events changes with normal game factors such as location of the game, game outcome, and several other factors. If scoring events during a game were always randomly distributed, or …


Solving The Rubik's Cube Using Group Theory, Courtney Cooke Dec 2017

Solving The Rubik's Cube Using Group Theory, Courtney Cooke

Honors Projects

While he was working in his mother's apartment in 1974, the professor of architecture from Budapest, Erno Rubik, had no idea he was inventing one of the most popular toys in history, the Rubik's Cube. As an estimated 350 million Rubik's cubes have been sold, and approximately one in every seven people have played with one (which is about 1 billion people) it is not surprising to see that the algorithm of solving the Rubik's cube has been applied to the eld of mathematics. By using abstract algebra and more specially, group theory, the Rubik's Cube, no matter what the …


Discovery Learning Plus Direct Instruction Equals Success: Modifying American Math Education In The Algebra Classroom, Sean P. Ferrill Mr. Jun 2017

Discovery Learning Plus Direct Instruction Equals Success: Modifying American Math Education In The Algebra Classroom, Sean P. Ferrill Mr.

Honors Projects

In light of both high American failure rates in algebra courses and the significant proportion of innumerate American students, this thesis examines a variety of effective educational methods in mathematics. Constructivism, discovery learning, traditional instruction, and the Japanese primary education system are all analyzed to incorporate effective education techniques. Based on the meta-analysis of each of these methods, a hybrid method has been constructed to adapt in the American Common Core algebra classroom.


Student-Created Test Sheets, Samuel Laderach Apr 2017

Student-Created Test Sheets, Samuel Laderach

Honors Projects

Assessment plays a necessary role in the high school mathematics classroom, and testing is a major part of assessment. Students often struggle with mathematics tests and examinations due to math and test anxiety, a lack of student learning, and insufficient and inefficient student preparation. Practice tests, teacher-created review sheets, and student-created test sheets are ways in which teachers can help increase student performance, while ridding these detrimental factors. Student-created test sheets appear to be the most efficient strategy, and this research study examines the effects of their use in a high school mathematics classroom.


Visualizing Sorting Algorithms, Brian Faria Jan 2017

Visualizing Sorting Algorithms, Brian Faria

Honors Projects

This paper discusses a study performed on animating sorting algorithms as a learning aid for classroom instruction. A web-based animation tool was created to visualize four common sorting algorithms: Selection Sort, Bubble Sort, Insertion Sort, and Merge Sort. The animation tool would represent data as a bar-graph and after selecting a data-ordering and algorithm, the user can run an automated animation or step through it at their own pace. Afterwards, a study was conducted with a voluntary student population at Rhode Island College who were in the process of learning algorithms in their Computer Science curriculum. The study consisted of …