IA (HL) Help on Maths HL IA - topic chosen, just need help on developing (:

[Yueykabuey]

For my Maths HL IA, I have chosen to investigate world records - specifically swimming times.

I will obviously plot a graph, find it's function & asymptotes & then work out the sequence (it gets closer to 0, but never reaches it)

But I'm not sure what other mathematical or other aspects I can explore to develop this further as it seems pretty simple... TOO simple in fact :/ Any help will be much appreciated!

[flinquinnster]

Just as a disclaimer - I'm with the old syllabus, so I am not doing the new IA task, and know nothing more than what's been written in the new Syllabus. So take any advice from me at your own discretion. Okay, so moving on.

For Maths HL, I gather that something like this might be too simple, but I'm really not sure. But, I'm inclined to say that this is probably more appropriate for Maths SL or even Studies. I'm guessing you might have looked at the 'Gold Medal Heights' SL Portfolio Type II task for 2012-2013, as it is also based on sporting records changing over time, and then predicting stuff based on that. If not, definitely try to have a look at that task, because it might be useful in prompting some basic ideas.

I think the stuff you've got about finding a model and then trying to predict future data points is good. However, there are obviously limitations to any mathematical model in representing a real-life issue, particularly in uses of technology in sport (good thing to mention in your reflection, which is worth 3/20 marks). Also, as you said, it might be too simplistic. So maybe consider trying to find other relationships, such as the link between height or weight with world records? Really, I'm not sure what other mathematical processes you could look at with this kind of investigation. If you want to keep the aquatic theme, consider doing something related to the physics/trigonometry of swimming, but that would be a bit random. Or maybe instead of just doing swimming records, try and compare it to other sports like 100m running?

A pretty graph. An interactive graph. Might be useful.

I'm not entirely sure what the level of sophistication required is either, so I'd say try and talk with your teacher. It's very easy to neglect this, but they should be able to give some advice, as they generally know more maths than we do. Even if they're unfamiliar with the new IA format, they're likely to have at least some recommendations for what you could do.