I found a topic

algebrapro18

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Those of you who might have read a few of my latest posts know I've been stressing about finding a math research topic that would be interesting. This morning I had an informational meeting about the class going over the expectations of the class and how long the paper/presentation needs to be. Well it was brought to my attention that I will be needing to meet with an facility adviser once a week to go over my progress and help me though any thing I might be struggling with and I would get to choose who I meet with. I have to have the adviser and topic chosen by next friday(jan. 30), but I wanted to get this out of the way now.

So I met with one of the facility members that I have never had but would consider a friend(I Know him though math club) and we started to talk and before I knew it I had found a topic that I am going to be doing my research on. After about 2 months of stressing over what this topic was going to be I finally found it.

I'm going to be researching Polynomial Root Dragging. Now all I have to do is find out what it is...I get the general principal but that won't be good enough for this class.
 

strange_wings

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Will it be enough to fill a presentation time slot with? I'm awful at math (actually to be clearer - I can grasp most stuff but have a horrible memory), but the general concept seems basic enough.
 

februa

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I suggest you contact Matt Boelkins, he works in this area and has a history of being a good contact for undergraduate students.
Last yr his lab published on Polynomial Root Squeezing in Mathematics Magazine
81(1):39-46 (February 2008)
 

kluchetta

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Originally Posted by algebrapro18

Those of you who might have read a few of my latest posts know I've been stressing about finding a math research topic that would be interesting. This morning I had an informational meeting about the class going over the expectations of the class and how long the paper/presentation needs to be. Well it was brought to my attention that I will be needing to meet with an facility adviser once a week to go over my progress and help me though any thing I might be struggling with and I would get to choose who I meet with. I have to have the adviser and topic chosen by next friday(jan. 30), but I wanted to get this out of the way now.

So I met with one of the facility members that I have never had but would consider a friend(I Know him though math club) and we started to talk and before I knew it I had found a topic that I am going to be doing my research on. After about 2 months of stressing over what this topic was going to be I finally found it.

I'm going to be researching Polynomial Root Dragging. Now all I have to do is find out what it is...I get the general principal but that won't be good enough for this class.
Cool. I've not heard of it; probably because I'm a musician working in Parks and Rec, LOL. What is the basic premise?
 
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algebrapro18

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Originally Posted by kluchetta

Cool. I've not heard of it; probably because I'm a musician working in Parks and Rec, LOL. What is the basic premise?
Well...how to explain it with out being to technical. Okay you know how polynomials have graphs. Well when a graph crosses the x-axis, that point is called a root. The higher the power of the polynomial the more roots it has. Well there is a theorem in calculus that states that between two roots there has to be at least one point where the derivative(the slope of the graph) is zero. The point where this is true is called a critical point. What polynomial root dragging deals with what happens to critical points when you move the roots.
 
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algebrapro18

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Originally Posted by Februa

I suggest you contact Matt Boelkins, he works in this area and has a history of being a good contact for undergraduate students.
Last yr his lab published on Polynomial Root Squeezing in Mathematics Magazine
81(1):39-46 (February 2008)
Thanks for the advice, I've read that article and loved it. Its so much clearer than the two articals he references by Bruce Anderson.

Matt speaks very clearly and with out all the technical jargon that Anderson uses and my eyes really appreciate that...lol.
 
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