IA Maths IA SL topic. Help!

[shereenmildred]

Hi everybody,

so I already (well kind of) have a topic for my maths IA, which is origami with architecture. however, when I first showed it to my teacher, he said it is related to complex numbers a bit which is in maths HL, so I could be marked down if I should continue with the topic. Nevertheless, I still want to do something with origami because I really find it interesting but I'm also find that it's pretty hard to narrow down the topic. My teacher did suggest about relating origami with airbag's folding. Can anybody please give me suggestion(s) that I could narrow down the topic from origami, please?

[IBTutorOnline]

Hi,

I don't really understand why your teacher would say that if the topic is slightly covered in maths HL, that you would lose marks. Based on the marking criterion, I think the opposite is the case. You will be rewarded for going beyond the syllabus, as long as you are able to do it correctly and without mistakes.

If I were I would use Google Scholar to check out some papers on the mathematics of origami and then try to see if there is anything I can narrow the topic down to that would allow for substantial exploration in 10-12 pages. Steer clear of papers written by university level math students. I think this is the paper your teacher is referring to http://www.math.chalmers.se/Math/Research/Preprints/2007/12.pdf. the maths does get pretty ugly midway through, but you may be able to adapt the exploration for simplicity.

Also, check this TED talk for some inspiration http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html
Goodluck!