learn about a mathematician

MAT135: Heart of MathematicsFinal Project

The purpose of this project is for you to learn about a mathematician. I will give a list of some optionsbelow but you are welcome to choose someone not on the list. This project is worth 15% of your grade.

1.RequirementsYour project should address the following:(1)Meaning:What does it mean to be a mathematician?

(2)Motivation:Why did you choose this person? What drew you to them?

(3)Background:Who is this person? Describe their path to becoming a mathematician.

(4)Contributions:How did this person contribute to the mathematical community? What was thefocus of their work?

(5)Reflection:What did you find most interesting or surprising about this person and their contribu-tions? Could you relate to them in any way?

You may choose one of following two formats for your final project:

(1)Essay.A 3-5 page essay. This is due to Brightspace on the last day of class, December 18th, bymidnight.

(2)Presentation.A 10 minute presentation to happen during the last week of classes (it does not needto happen during your scheduled time). You can sign up for a block to present athttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1fVSip3YtiGlXY35EVGUM49H5IHpzP8oqKhA-K8qoodw/edit?usp=sharingon either December 16th, December 17th, or December 18th. If the spots fill up or you cannot makeany of the available spots, email me and we will find an alternate time. Note that you will need tocreate your presentation so that you can share it on Ring Central so you should use something alongthe lines of Powerpoint. You will also submit your presentation to Brightspace by December 18that midnight.

Logistics:

•If you choose to do a paper, it must be 3-5 pages. It can be double-spaced, but the cover page andbibliography do not count in the page count.

•If you choose to do a presentation, your presentation must be 10 minutes long accompanied by somevisual (i.e. slides).

•In either case, you must have a bibliography with at least two sources. You may use whatevercitation style you want, but you MUST cite every source that you use for the paper/presentation.You can use Wikipedia as a source.

•Your paper/presentation must be in complete and readable sentences. It may help to read yourpaper/presentation out loud to identify where you have grammar mistakes or run-on sentences. Ifyou would like to have someone else help you proof-read and edit your paper, you are welcome tosign up for a peer tutor at Wolak Learning Center (https://snhu.mywconline.com/).1

2.Suggested Mathematicians

•You may choose someone fromhttps://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/ebooks/pdf/LivingProof_WEB.pdfbut note that you should do additional research on this person – their storyinLiving Proofis not sufficient.

•Sonya Kovalevsky

•Emmy Noether

•Alan Turing

•Ada Lovelace

•Katherine Johnson

•Fibonacci

•Benoit Mandelbrot

•Albert Einstein

•Euclid

Note:Feel free to choose someone not on this list! If you are unsure of your choice, check with me.2