Is my math Sl IA idea good enough?

[S_Orbital]

Hello everyone,

I have found a new idea for my math sl ia but I don't know if it's good enough for me to proceed with it. As a result of my research I found that I could find the volume of objects such as vases with the use of the volume of the revolutions of solids formula and some other mathematical processes. Do you think that the use of this concept and combining it with a real life object is sufficient for a SL IA?

Thank you in advance

[kw0573]

The topic is ok and has the potential to score well (15+). Be sure to explain your steps carefully, especially as to how to verify the the equations used to describe the vase and how to verify the integral experimentally. I would suggest picking a smooth vase (without much grooves) and it may be even possible to figure out the average thickness. 

[S_Orbital]

9 hours ago, kw0573 said:

The topic is ok and has the potential to score well (15+). Be sure to explain your steps carefully, especially as to how to verify the the equations used to describe the vase and how to verify the integral experimentally. I would suggest picking a smooth vase (without much grooves) and it may be even possible to figure out the average thickness. 

Thank you for the reply. I thought of perhaps having a more complex shape in order to add extra steps to it. I think that doing this would increase the complexity of the IA and therefore potentially grant me a higher mark. Do you think that this may be true?

Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it

[kw0573]

Making the IA more complex is a good idea, until you can't handle it. When applying the volume of revolution formula, the integral has to be integrable, you have limited exposure to integrals in SL, so do not choose super difficult functions. I just think numerical integration is somewhat lacking and relinquishes the opportunity to showcase integration skills. Polynomials are the best. You may have to break up the domain and/or range so you have functions, not other relations, to describe the vase outline.

The other major difficulty in this topic is making the function(s) used to scale. Basically you need a 1 to 1 scale outline to lay over a grid and there may be many ways to do that. You can use this applet https://automeris.io/WebPlotDigitizer/ to identify points on the grid and find equations that fit them. When you apply regression to find the equation(s), it's best to explain how and why the regression formula works.