Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Applied Topology Ams 528, Harrison Dekker

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Factors Impacting Students’ Perceptions Of Mathematics, Amber Souza

Honors Program Theses and Projects

I want to be able to present math in a positive light to all of my future students, regardless of race, gender, and math background. However, for teachers as a whole to be able to take this important step, they must first develop a deeper understanding of why math is a sore spot for many students.

The Decline Of The Mid-Range Jump Shot In Basketball: A Study Of The Impact Of Data Analytics On Shooting Habits In The Nba, Shawn Kilcoyne

Honors Projects in Mathematics

The purpose of this thesis paper is to investigate the strategic shift away from the mid-range jump shot in basketball over the past decade. This paper will cover the rationale for the decline of the mid-range, as well as the general impact of data analytics on the way the game of basketball is played at the professional level. Following a review of the existing literature relating to the use of analytics in the NBA, this paper will analyze the differences in shooting habits between two seven-season periods. Data visualization tools, including boxplots, statistical trends, and distribution plots, will be used …

Impact Of Concept-Based Mathematics Instructional Strategies On Seventh Grade Student Achievement, Katherine Annette Lawley Ellsworth

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In a nation with declining enrollment in college math courses, it is important to examine how mathematics is being taught in the K-12 education system and to identify best practices. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact concept-based instructional strategies has on middle school student achievement in mathematics when integrated into the traditional mathematics curriculum. Participants included 424 seventh grade students from two middle schools. Students Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Fall-to-Winter data 2018 prior to implementation was used a covariate and Fall-to-Winter data 2019 data during the implementation of concept-based instructional strategies integrated into the traditional …

Perceiving Mathematics And Art, Edmund Harriss

Mic Lectures

Mathematics and art provide powerful lenses to perceive and understand the world, part of an ancient tradition whether it starts in the South Pacific with tapa cloth and wave maps for navigation or in Iceland with knitting patterns and sunstones. Edmund Harriss, an artist and assistant clinical professor of mathematics in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, explores these connections in his Honors College Mic lecture.

College Algebra Notes And Exercises (Gcsu), Rabia Shahbaz, Janice Alves

Mathematics Ancillary Materials

Developed as part of a Round 13 Mini-Grant, these updated supplementary materials for Stitz-Zeager Open Source Mathematics and the LibGuides Open Course for College Algebra at GCSU include notes and exercises on equations, inequalities, functions, polynomial and rational functions, and exponential and logarithmic functions are included in one .zip file.

An Evolutionary Approach To Crowdsourcing Mathematics Education, Spencer Ward

Honors College

By combining ideas from evolutionary biology, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, this thesis attempts to derive a new kind of crowdsourcing that could better leverage people’s collective creativity. Following a theory of knowledge presented by David Deutsch, it is argued that knowledge develops through evolutionary competition that organically emerges from a creative dialogue of trial and error. It is also argued that this model of knowledge satisfies the properties of Douglas Hofstadter’s strange loops, implying that self-reflection is a core feature of knowledge evolution. This mix of theories then is used to analyze several existing strategies of crowdsourcing and knowledge …

Exploring Pedagogical Empathy Of Mathematics Graduate Student Instructors, Karina Uhing

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Interpersonal relationships are central to the teaching and learning of mathematics. One way that teachers relate to their students is by empathizing with them. In this study, I examined the phenomenon of pedagogical empathy, which is defined as empathy that influences teaching practices. Specifically, I studied how mathematics graduate student instructors conceptualize pedagogical empathy and analyzed how pedagogical empathy might influence their teaching decisions. To address my research questions, I designed a qualitative phenomenological study in which I conducted observations and interviews with 11 mathematics graduate student instructors who were teaching precalculus courses at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln.

In the …

Self-Supervised Learning For Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy, Clare Minnerath

Mathematics & Computer Science Student Scholarship

Major: Mathematics and Computer Science

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Lynette Boos, Mathematics

We evaluate the ability of self-supervised deep learning for Poisson denoising of Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy (SMLM) in addition to the impact denoising can have on the ability to locate molecules within the Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy images. SMLM images are predominantly corrupted with Poisson noise. There is a need for a superior technique to provide accurate SMLM images in order for scientists to gain a better understanding of the functions of live cells at the nanoscale. By denoising SMLM images prior to the images undergoing the current state- of-the-art super-resolution …

Research In Sabermetrics: The Cape Cod Baseball League, Thomas Zinzarella

Mathematics & Computer Science Student Scholarship

Major: Sports Media

Faculty Mentor: Fr. Humbert Kilanowski O.P, Mathematics and Computer Science

We analyzed data from the Cape Cod Baseball League, a prestigious summer baseball league, where we looked at sabermetric statistics such as WAR (Wins above replacement). Stats like these can help evaluate a player and project whether they are a future MLB player or not. Especially on the Cape, where 1 in 7 current Major League Baseball players have played in the league.

Simplexity Of The N-Cube, Peter Graziano

Mathematics & Computer Science Student Scholarship

Major: Mathematics and Classics

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Su-Jeong Kang, Mathematics

The process of dividing shapes into triangles is called triangulation, and it is possible to abstract the idea of a triangle to higher dimensions, where it will be called a simplex in n-dimensions, or an n-simplex. I studied this process of generalized triangulation, or decomposition, in order to find an optimal decomposition of a 5-cube to help improve the bounds on the general case of an n-cube.

Application Of Black-Scholes-Merton Model In Option Pricing And Intangibles Assets, Giang Nguyen-Hoang

Mathematics & Computer Science Student Scholarship

Major: Finance and Mathematics

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joseph Shomberg, Mathematics

The Black-Scholes model was developed by Fisher Black and Myron Scholes in the 1970s to price stock options. Since then the model has been suited to price so-called intangible assets such as trademarks and patents. In this paper, we investigate the related Black-Scholes-Merton model and the relevant characteristics of patents in order to associate patents as real options. After describing patents as options, we apply the Black-Scholes-Merton model to the valuation of the intangible assets. Special attention is given to modeling volatility and the cost of delay in order to …

Teaching And Learning Of Fluid Mechanics, Ashwin Vaidya

Department of Mathematics Facuty Scholarship and Creative Works

Fluid mechanics occupies a privileged position in the sciences; it is taught in various science departments including physics, mathematics, environmental sciences and mechanical, chemical and civil engineering, with each highlighting a different aspect or interpretation of the foundation and applications of fluids. Doll’s fluid analogy [5] for this idea is especially relevant to this issue: “Emergence of creativity from complex flow of knowledge—example of Benard convection pattern as an analogy—dissipation or dispersal of knowledge (complex knowledge) results in emergent structures, i.e., creativity which in the context of education should be thought of as a unique way to arrange information so …

Fern Or Fractal... Or Both?, Christina Babcock

Research and Scholarship Symposium Posters

Fractals are series of self similar sets and can be found in nature. After researching the Barnsley Fern and the iterated function systems using to create the fractal, I was able to apply what I learned to create a fractal shell. This was done using iterated function systems, matrices, random numbers, and Python coding.

Searching Games: A Bound For The Responder, Jose Garcia

Student Scholars Day Oral Presentations

A searching game with two unknowns and a lie involves two players, the responder and the questioner. Before the start of the game, the two parties predetermine an amount of numbers n to consider, and how many questions k the questioner can ask before the game ends with a victory (or loss) for the responder. The responder thinks of two secret numbers. The questioner asks questions of the form "How many of your two numbers are in the subset Q of the set {0,...,n-1}?", in an attempt to search and find what the two secret numbers are. If the questioner …

Knitting Math: Geometric Shapes, Cynthia Wright

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

When knitting 3-D objects such as hats or socks, the knitter is using geometry and mathematics to make the 2-dimensional string into 3-dimensional shapes. In this project, I will be creating mathematically accurate, geometric shapes, to directly show the relationship between the mathematical formulas, knitting patterns, and the knitted objects. There is more than one way to understand and perceive math, one of which is knitting. Past mathematical knitters have shown the relationship between algebra and complex shapes (such as a Klein bottle or Möbius strip) and knitting. In an effort to explore how more accessible mathematical shapes and concepts …

A Mathematical Model Of Speeding, Jared Ott, Xavier Pérez Giménez

Honors Theses

Crime is often regarded as nonsensical, impulsive, and irrational. These conjectures are pointed, though conversation about the pros and cons of crime does not happen often. People point to harsh fines, jail times, and life restrictions as their reason for judgement, stating that the trade-offs are far too unbalanced to participate in illicit activity. Yet, everyday people commit small crimes, sometimes based on hedonistic desires, other times based on a rational thought process.

Speeding seems to be one of those that almost all people commit at least once during their life. Our work hopes to make an incremental improvement on …

Trigonometry: A Brief Conversation, Carolyn D. King Phd, Tam Evelyn, Fei Ye Phd, Beata Ewa Carvajal

Open Educational Resources

These five units are specifically tailored to foster the mastery of a few selected trigonometry topics that comprise the one credit MA-121 Elementary Trigonometry course. Each unit introduces the topic, provides space for practice, but more importantly, provides opportunities for students to reflect on the work in order to deepen their conceptual understanding.

These units have also been assigned to students of other courses such as pre-calculus and calculus as a review of trigonometric basics essential to those courses. This is the second edition of the materials. Units 4 and 5 have been edited to reflect suggestions from instructors who …

Math 3100 - Mathematical Thinking: Communication And Proof - Week 1 Outline, Laura J. Wallace, Cory Johnson, Shawn Mcmurran, Min-Lin Lo

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

As a group, we hope through this FLC project to develop a course that promotes departmental SLOs, as well as University learning outcomes for a writing-intensive course. We focused on our new foundational course (MATH 3100 Mathematical Thinking: Communication and Proof). This course, designated as a writing-intensive course, introduces students to disciplinary ways of thinking and communicating in mathematics with emphasis on the construction of valid mathematical arguments, critiques of arguments, and structure of professional mathematical writing including typesetting. We would like to develop a library of useful materials that faculty members can adapt in their classrooms in order to …

Math 3100: Communication And Proof - Assessment, Shawn Mcmurran, Min-Lin Lo, Corrine Johnson, Laura Wallace

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

As a group, we hope through this FLC project to develop a course that promotes departmental SLOs, as well as University learning outcomes for a writing-intensive course. We focused on our new foundational course (MATH 3100 Mathematical Thinking: Communication and Proof). This course, designated as a writing-intensive course, introduces students to disciplinary ways of thinking and communicating in mathematics with emphasis on the construction of valid mathematical arguments, critiques of arguments, and structure of professional mathematical writing including typesetting. We would like to develop a library of useful materials that faculty members can adapt in their classrooms in order to …

A Cool Brisk Walk Through Discrete Mathematics, Stephen Davies

Computer Science Articles

A Cool Brisk Walk Through Discrete Mathematics - and its companion site "allthemath" - are completely-and-forever-free-and-open-source educational materials dedicated to the mathematics that budding computer science practitioners actually need to know. They feature the fun and addictive teaching of award-winning lecturer Dr. Stephen Davies of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia!

Math Department 2019-2020 Newsletter, Mathematics Department

Mathematics Newsletter

Welcome to our annual Mathematics Department Newsletter. This was an unusual year for our department as the coronavirus cut short our time on campus this year. Hence we were unable to have our usual events such as the Annual Mathematics Lecture, the Pi Mu Epsilon Induction and Awards Night, and there was no in-person commencement ceremony. But despite that, many great things happened in our department.

Communicating In Crisis Situations, Rick Gorvett, Chris Morse, Julie Volkman

Communication Faculty Journal Articles

Communicating technical information, especially in a crisis situation and particularly when the audience does not share the technical background, is a challenge that actuaries frequently face. This essay describes the dynamics and issues involved in crisis communications and provides some recommendations for actuaries confronting such a situation.

New Challenges In Neutrosophic Theory And Applications, Florentin Smarandache, Stefan Vladutescu, Miihaela Colhon, Wadei Al-Omeri, Saeid Jafari, Muhammad Zahir Khan, Muhammad Farid Khan, Muhammad Aslam, Abdur Razzaque Mughal

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Neutrosophic theory has representatives on all continents and, therefore, it can be said to be a universal theory. On the other hand, according to the three volumes of “The Encyclopedia of Neutrosophic Researchers” (2016, 2018, 2019), plus numerous others not yet included in Encyclopedia book series, about 1200 researchers from 73 countries have applied both the neutrosophic theory and method. Neutrosophic theory was founded by Professor Florentin Smarandache in 1998; it constitutes further generalization of fuzzy and intuitionistic fuzzy theories. The key distinction between the neutrosophic set/logic and other types of sets/logics lies in the introduction of the degree of …

Teacher Support Of Co- And Socially-Shared Regulation Of Learning In Middle School Mathematics Classrooms, Melissa Quackenbush, Linda Bol

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Social influences on classroom learning have a long research tradition and are critical components of self-regulated learning theories. More recently, researchers have explored the social influences of self-regulated learning in cooperative learning contexts. In these settings, co-regulation of learning and socially-shared regulation of learning strategies have been aligned with self-regulated learning theory. However, without specific training or structure, teachers are not likely to explicitly integrate SRL strategies into their teaching. We use case studies to better understand how Zimmerman's theory of self-regulated learning (2008) and Hadwin's conceptual framework of socially-shared regulation of learning (2018) emerge from teachers' support of student-centered …