IA (HL) Is this of Sufficient level for HL IA? (Fast Please)

[Dax]

My Topic is Real Life Applications of First Order Differential Equations - That's some part of Option 9, but I've added some Applications of Linear Differential Equations as well.

My Teacher says the difficulty isn't HL Exploration Level yet, I'm not sure how to go with it, I've put basic applications - from population growth, to heating and cooling, mixing solutions and even electric circuits and half life and decay.

Also, could you suggest any other application that I have missed out on? Especially concerning Linear/Bernoulli Differential Equations?

Thanks!

[Abdul Aziz]

Hey Dax,

this topic would be more suitable for an SL exploration. but for an HL exploration, you would need to have something where you can apply (at least some of ) the math that is not covered in SL. i would also say that your topic is not very focused as you could actually write a lot about the real life applications.... why not focus it to a particular "real life" problem and see how you can use the math to solve it.

I hope you found this useful.

[Dax]

"Students are expected to produce work that is commensurate with the level of the course. The mathematics

explored should either be part of the syllabus, or at a similar level or beyond. It should not be completely

based on mathematics listed in the prior learning. If the level of mathematics is not commensurate with the

level of the course, a maximum of two marks can be awarded for this criterion."

From the Criteria that judges the Mathematical Usage of the Exploration.

Focusing it on one subject narrows it down too much, as such these are all real life applications in the fields of medicine, physics, economics, management and nutrition. Thank You for the feedback though.

I think you confused Differentiation with Differential Equations, Differential Equations are a part of Option 9 (Calculus) in HL Syllabus. From the time I posted this question, I have been able to find application based on Linear First Order Ordinary Differential Equation which is not part of the Math HL Syllabus!

[maroctam]

First order differential equations are fine, but there are too many real life applications for them to be covered in a 6-12 page IA. You should have something more focused which will lead to a result, rather than a descriptive piece of work that might result in an approach similar to this: "First order DEs can be used in medicine. Here is an example".

It would be better if you have a question that you can actually write a conclusion about, and then solve your question using whatever is necessary; like differential equations.

I really hope I am making sense; please tell me if I'm not. Good luck!

[Dax]

That actually makes sense, I'll talk to my teacher about it tomorrow, the submission is the day after, the only problem is that once we focus it on just one field, we narrow it down a bit too much because growth of bacteria, population growth, medicine feeding, all these are solved using the same method, so I have spread it a bit, I'll be mentioning the applications in brief.

As for the conclusion, I was thinking of giving some parameters according to which a question can be adapted in the form of differential equation, so if a problem meets these parameters, then it can be solved by differential equation.
Thanks so much for the replies, if you have any other suggestions, please feel free to post em.