IB Math IA Complete Guide Part 8: Choosing a topic (p2) | Mr. Flynn IB

This video helps you with the most difficult part of the IB math IA: choosing a topic. We look at a number of different examples and look at topics that work well.

[abdulkareemghosheh]

Thank you Mr. Flynn your tutorials are amazing I bet it will get everyone a 7 in their IAs including me.
I’m a huge fan!!

[johnathantahir]

hello Mr. Flynn! very informative videos!
I need some help. I am in Maths AI SL and I brainstormed this idea: modeling the dynamics of sound waves in piano music using trigonometric functions ( for the music I'll take a few of the notes such as I can compare all the C notes on the piano like how they are all Cs but have different sound waves - hope that makes sense ) I would record the notes and process them in a software to visualise them. Afterwards i would take the visualised image put it into any graphing software to read of their amplitued, period and frequencey then create the equation for them as well and lastly I would analyse the equation it's amplitude, frequency and period of each of the notes. See what makes them all different. I have this planned out yet i think due to me doing soundwaves it could also fall into physics but i'm not sure i don't take physics and don't want to do like a wrong IA that's ends up being not even anything related to the subject. Also I know that Sin functions aren't a part of AI SL but i've done the topic in my previous school and i just thought why not wouldn't it be interesting but i'm really dounting if I'll be able to do it or be allowed to do it. I would just like to know what you think about the Idea and If you have any suggestions to do anything better or rather change it completely.

Also another Idea that i was thinking about which is far more easier I think is to model the soles of shoes such as high heels and flats and comapre their graphs for instance the louboutin high heels theyy could look like exponential functions like modelled after them and the flats with a linear function i could find out their gradiants and what not ( this one i haven't really thought about in depth just came up with it on the spot while looking at one of your Maths IA videos on miodeling a skateboard ramp but what do you think about it?)

[GGTMBE]

Thank you Sir, i cant wait to try this out to finally get a 7 for my IA!

[polrodes]

Mr. Flynn, the first example of swimming, where does it fit: In Functions or Probability and Statistics? At school the only area we cannot choose is Probability and Statistics.

[sanaadawood]

Hi Mr Flynn! Loved this video
I'm brainstorming ideas for my Math Ia
my first idea was to write about the relationship between geometrical sequence and the aperture of a camera. While there is a good personal engagement here, I'm not sure how I would go about this question.
I also wanted to investigate the optimum dimensions of an aluminium can to hold soda.
Please let me know what you think about these.

[victorlin]

Hello Mr. Flynn, I really enjoyed your video and after watching it I think I've decided to do my IA based on the volume of a revolution of an object. However, I am currently having trouble thinking of an object and aim to do my IA on so I would like to seek some guidance. Thank you for giving up your time on this, much appreciated!!

[corfield]

Hey, Mr. Flynn! I love your videos! I have a few rough ideas for what I might do and was wondering if you thought any of them were particularly good. If not, that's good to know too.
1. Is there a connection between what critics think of a movie (I'm thinking based on a review score) and how it performs in the box office (or what fans think of it)
2. Are stress levels and choice of school curriculum (IB, AP, etc) related
3. The probability of how many serves I'll get in first try (as opposed to in 2 tries or not at all) in a tennis match
4. How high a tennis ball should be tossed in order to serve it in
Thanks!

[mondirapaul]

Thank you so so much Mr Flynn!! I finally came up with an idea, thanks to you. I

[tornvibes]

Hello Mr. Flynn, I hope you are doing well. I am in IB Math AA SL, and I am quite stuck on what I want to do for my topic. I was wondering if you could help me brainstorm and refine my ideas?

1. As an aspiring doctor, I wanted to model tumour growth, but I am not sure how to go about doing this?
2. Maybe the probability of inheriting a certain trait/gene/disease?
3. I also quite love literature, so I was wondering investigating finding authorship of a novel by first investigating 2 novels of different authors, using probability distribution to find how many times certain words were used and then using Bayes theorem to predict if a third novel was from one author or another?
4. Bayes Theorem in figuring out probability of misdiagnosing someone with some disease?

Sorry that there are no specifics, , I am really stuck but would appreciate any help!!

[mounirmatamir]

Hi Mr Flynn thanks so much for this video it helped me figure out what I want to do for my IA. I liked the idea of a volume of a revolution, im going to use that and the student that did it on the airplane engine, what was his real world application if you dont mind me asking? and how did he manage to model such a complex shape?

[MagnesiumChlorideIB]

Hi Mr Flynn I am a AA HL student and I have a topic in mind where I will be modelling and comparing the flight path of a Flying Squirrel and a Sugar Glider. How is this as a topic? I have had this on my mind for quite a while but I am not particularly sure how to start the IA with this topic as well.

[zeyadanwar]

I am actually doing something really close to the swimming IA, but instead, I am calculating the probability of being qualified to powerlifting national competition, and what is the probability of getting X place or top 3 using the normal distribution of my scores in training for the past few months. And as you have 3 attempts per lift, I will make use of binomial distribution to get how the probability of lifting X weight for once at least and the probability of failing the competition (getting 0). I have some concerns about this idea, as I don't actually know what other extensions and mathematical tools can I add to my IA to make it more interesting

[agustinaesponda]

Hello Mr. Flynn. I'm an AA HL student and I'm starting with my IA. I'm a huge fan of astronomy so I've thought doing sth about ellipse modelling on the solar system and then I could calculate the area of that model and with derivatives I could calculate velocity. The thing is that I don't know if it's ok to take a picture from the internet or what. Also, astronomy is a topic on which I didn't find many IA examples, so I don't know in what extent is that good or bad.
I would really appreciate your opinion. Thank you!

[mariahalqubtiyah]

Hi sir. Thank you for the videos. I've gone through them all. I'm taking AA HL and my idea is to compare the rate of burning for scented candles made of soy wax and palm wax. If i were to measure the volume for both candles' jars using integration, and find the rate of burning for both of the candles, then plot a graph to compare both burning rates and find out which one would last longer, would my level of maths be sophisticated enough? Can i have your opinions in what more "math" should I add? I'm really clueless.

[nourhamdan]

Thank you, this was really helpful! I had an idea to calculate the volume of a conical flask. The real-life application to this IA would be connected to chemistry, where finding the volume of a flask is needed for specific experiments (eg: finding the pressure of gas). However, typically the process of finding the volume of a flask would result in a high percentage of uncertainty. I was planning to investigate whether calculating the volume mathematically could be more accurate than finding it experimentally? Do you think this IA idea would be suitable for math AA Sl students, or is it too simple/ complex? also, if I were to use this idea, how do you think I could test whether my calculations of the volume are more/ less accurate than the experimental value? Thank you very much!

[dudechill]

Hello Mr Flynn. I am getting ready to decide on an IA topic and I was thinking around the area of Basketball. I am doing Maths AA HL, and was intrigued when you mentioned calculating the area under a curve. My initial plan was compare my free throw/3 pointer shot to a professional and find shifts and transformations to make my free throw more ideal but i feel like that isn't enough to get a 7 on the IA for HL. Do you have any idea how i could possibly integrate the topic of kinematics, area under curves, or vectors into the idea, to get it to a HL level?

[julianmikkelsen]

Hello Mr. Flynn, I am a Math AA SL student and have been in the process of writing an IA on exploring different dimensions. My teacher has told me that she has had high scoring IA's that are abstract and don't necessarily deal with quantitative data so I decided to stay with my topic. So far I've got a good intro, rationale, and have even 3d printed some models of 3D and 4D objects. Additionally I've looked at the difference between spatial dimensions and spacetime, different methods for modeling objects from other dimensions such as shadow projection, and looked at different characteristics using Euler's characteristic equation for polyhedra. I'm thinking of looking at calculating volumes of 4d objects, and taking a look at fractal dimensions and calculations that could be done with them.

I'm too late to change topics now, but I was curious- Do you think I'm approaching the topic effectively, or have any suggestions? Was it a bad idea to choose the topic because of its vagueness?

[aliyazulaikha]

Hi Mr Flynn. Thank you for this great video! I find it really inspiring in finding IA ideas. Initially, my plan is to do an IA about modelling the Nevis Swing by relating it to quadratic functions. However, I'm having problem in collecting data and don't know where to start. Im interested about the optimisation about cycling rate since its an easy way for me to collect data. But i'm not clear how to expand this more. What other aspects I need to calculate? May I ask ur opinion about this? Or should I continue with my first idea?

[teddy]

Thank you for the video. I'm an AA SL student. If I was to use the idea you mentioned about modelling a long jump vs short jump and finding the area of each one, would that be ok? Would the level of maths I use be appropriate for SL?

[samuelyoong]

Hi Mr Flynn 👋 I'm a Maths AA HL student and since I was a kid I really enjoyed roller coasters and there was this specific theme park where I always went and I was wondering if I could maybe model the loops of the roller coaster using parametric equations? Would that be complicated enough math and long enough to write about to get a 7 in my AA HL course?