HL Math EE topics

[Alexzianna]

I'm starting IB in the following school year and want to have an EE topic as soon as possible due to many reasons, one being that I wouldn't have much time to work on it and coming up with a topic seems to be taking forever. I really want to do an EE in HL Maths but not to sure as for a topic.

I have a couple of ideas and wanted opinions on them

-The math behind Sudoku/Chess, not much algorithms but I'm pretty sure that there are some theories behind the two games

-Explanation of Mayan/Aztec maths

-Applications of Matrices in real life (may be hard to do)

Electrical circuits

Optics

Quantum mechanics

[Chris Schmitz]

Hi,

I thought about doing a Maths HL EE as well. My idea was to look at the maths behind the board game battleship, but whatever I suggested in that frame, my teacher said it was too simple. If you're doing a HL EE in maths, they expect you to go well beyond the syllabus' scope. The sudoku/chess option, I think, might run into the same problems. That's all I know- except, don't forget about topics if you don't end up choosing them, they might be perfect for your mathematical exploration.

Hope that helped a bit

[ctrls]

Just to add to what's said above, Sudoku is mainly a game of logic, so there's actually little Maths behind it. Chess on the other hand might be ok since there appears to be some problems related to it, but it may be rather difficult since it's probably related to set theory and such - which is only taught as an option with HL Maths. Since I haven't looked into the subject at all I can't give any advice on the specifics, so you may want to ask around and such.

I know nothing about Mayan/Aztec maths nor have I learnt matrices yet so I can't help you there, but the applications may make for an suitable topic. Make sure to keep it related to Maths though, which is especially important with something as complex as quantum mechanics. Try to also keep in mind that you need to phrase an RQ out of the topic you are doing, how you could expand on a topic and include something (somewhat) original.

Since you haven't actually started the IB however, it may be worth waiting a bit. You may find it challenging at first since you haven't learned a lot of concepts, plus you may find an interesting topic/area over the course of the year as you learn new stuff. While familiarizing yourself with what's expected for the EE would be useful later on, I wouldn't recommend narrowing down topics just yet.