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Maths Studies IA topic population growth


johnnykim

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Hi,

I'm having a problem with my IA.

For my maths studies IA, I was going to do it on population growth in South Korea. The plan was, obtain population data from 1950 up to 2050 and make a correlation graph, investigate various models(and functions) and also the logisitic model(a model related to population growth, also known as the sigmoid curve.)I will also use calculus and differentiation to find out the instantaneous rate of change for population and compare it to the data for the rate of change of population that I will research.

My teacher said that this was a bit simple and told me to add more factors but I'm not sure what and how to do that. Could anyone give me some advice??

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Correlation to what? You only have one variable at the moment. If you plan to use derivatives to find the population growth you need to compare those growth values to something. You could use GDP to measure the economic success during those years, you could also look at food production/imports to compare population growth to the amount of food readily available. You could compare population growth to the average salary/hourly rate of pay of the country.

I think they are saying it's too simple because you are only making a model and taking a single derivative. After you have those two you are just plugging in numbers to find the growth data and then you have nothing for a correlation.

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you said "various models and functions". Do you mean quadratic, logarithmic functions? One tool which helped me a lot in my Math SL IAs was Logger pro. You can get a trail of 30 days i think for free, that would let you finish this IA. It's really good for coming up with different functions. If you find anything dificult, let me know and i'll help you out

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  • 4 weeks later...

Correlation to what? You only have one variable at the moment. If you plan to use derivatives to find the population growth you need to compare those growth values to something. You could use GDP to measure the economic success during those years, you could also look at food production/imports to compare population growth to the amount of food readily available. You could compare population growth to the average salary/hourly rate of pay of the country.

I think they are saying it's too simple because you are only making a model and taking a single derivative. After you have those two you are just plugging in numbers to find the growth data and then you have nothing for a correlation.

Thanks for the idea. Yeah I should compare the population to another factor as you mentioned. So after I compare those factors, how should I try to fit the data into the functions and graphs?

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you said "various models and functions". Do you mean quadratic, logarithmic functions? One tool which helped me a lot in my Math SL IAs was Logger pro. You can get a trail of 30 days i think for free, that would let you finish this IA. It's really good for coming up with different functions. If you find anything dificult, let me know and i'll help you out

Yes, I was meaning those graphs. Is it a program that i can download? I think that might be helpful. Do you know the site where I can get it? Thanks

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