We were talking about it in Pre-calculus the other day and I’m confused as to what exactly it is. I really enjoy researching things about psychology so I was thinking I could have a topic based on that, but I don’t understand how to implement math or what to write about. Has anyone written a math IA? How do I implement a topic into the essay?
Basically you have to choose a topic to explore using mathematics. For SL and HL maths, you can choose any topic you desire, and any question to investigate. However for SL and HL maths you have to ensure that the type of mathematics you use in your investigation is at, or beyond the level of mathematics you are studying.
For studies level maths things are more restricted, you have to do a statistical investigation, however within statistics the things you can investigate are pretty much endless.
I suggest taking a look at the assessment criteria.
Another general tip is the IB really values you choosing a topic that you have genuine interest in/relates to your real life, in order to show personal engagement.
Thank you @fizzy110 ! So if I were to do something psychology related, would it have to be like I state a problem and solve it in-depth? Or more like “the effect of this on this is” and use math to explain?
For implementing a topic into an IA, it’s really up to you to decide what to do - both of those ideas are perfectly plausible. You probably want to stay on the simple side, because IAs are a lot of work.
When you said psychology, I was thinking things like exploring the correlation between obesity and depression for example.
Take a look at this website, it has a lot of ideas, so you can get a feel of what type of things others did. http://ibmathsresources.com/2013/09/03/maths-ia-exploration-topics/
@fizzy110 , yes what you were thinking of is like what I wanted to go for. Thank you for the resources!
I am in a HL class. I wrote my ia on fractals and choas theory and related them to snow flakes.