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Math IA Help: Volume and Surface Area of Wine Glass


swl

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Hello! Recently, I have come up with calculating the volume and surface area of wine glasses for my Math IA (I am in Maths SL). I am just wondering whether if this idea is suitable for Maths SL and whether if it shows personal engagement. Since this idea would involved relatively more heavy calculus as I am at SL level, would it show personal engagement because I am attempting to learn something more challenging and outside the scope of the syllabus? In my opinion, it is not exactly unique or crazy creative compared to the sample IA's I see, for example graphing cosmetic contact lens patterns. Do you have any tips on how I could expand on the topic? I had in mind trying to find a surface area to volume ratio or a formula to relate/connect volume and surface area. Or I could explore how increases in height of the glass could change the surface area? But honestly I am not sure if it would be creative or interesting enough. I am not sure what the IB is looking for in terms of the IA.

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This is an interesting idea to explore IF you have a good knowledge of wine. What makes wine taste great and why does it matter if you put wine in a wine glass? Why doesn't a regular cylindrical glass work? Explain this difference. I don't know much about wine or wine glasses but if you have knowledge about why the surface area is important in holding the wine, this would show a lot of personal engagement.

I don't think this is "heavy" calculus as you suggest. You can use the volume of revolution formula to figure out the volume a wine glass can hold. For the surface area, you need a slightly different equation. I like this idea of SA/Volume ratio but it should be connected with the wine; that is, connect the wine glass to some metric related to the wine. For example, SA/Volume of the wine glass to the oxygen content in the wine (again, I don't know much about wines but this can lead you in the right direction).

One more thing: don't compare your topic to others. It just makes you doubt yourself. I'm an IA examiner and I see IAs with really interesting premises but fall flat on the content and I've also seen the opposite (i.e. mundane topics that are explained really well). Focus on your content. Look at the assessment criteria and hit all the required benchmarks. That's it. Don't worry about your peers. Trust me, just because some people get a 7 in answering math questions doesn't mean they do well on the IA.

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18 hours ago, IB Math Helper said:

This is an interesting idea to explore IF you have a good knowledge of wine. What makes wine taste great and why does it matter if you put wine in a wine glass? Why doesn't a regular cylindrical glass work? Explain this difference. I don't know much about wine or wine glasses but if you have knowledge about why the surface area is important in holding the wine, this would show a lot of personal engagement.

I don't think this is "heavy" calculus as you suggest. You can use the volume of revolution formula to figure out the volume a wine glass can hold. For the surface area, you need a slightly different equation. I like this idea of SA/Volume ratio but it should be connected with the wine; that is, connect the wine glass to some metric related to the wine. For example, SA/Volume of the wine glass to the oxygen content in the wine (again, I don't know much about wines but this can lead you in the right direction).

One more thing: don't compare your topic to others. It just makes you doubt yourself. I'm an IA examiner and I see IAs with really interesting premises but fall flat on the content and I've also seen the opposite (i.e. mundane topics that are explained really well). Focus on your content. Look at the assessment criteria and hit all the required benchmarks. That's it. Don't worry about your peers. Trust me, just because some people get a 7 in answering math questions doesn't mean they do well on the IA.

Thanks for the help! I also had an idea where I could calculate mass, volume and surface area of a process separator vessel. I want to relate it to safety where I figure out the amount of vapour to released from the vessel to ensure that it is safe. I will consider using different types of materials such as water, ethanol, methanol or oil to determine how much vapour must be released for it to be safe when the vessel is operating. Also, the bigger the vessel, the more vapour that must be released. In this case, would personal engagement be awarded if I am going to learn maths outside of the scope of the syllabus and take initiative to learn about the process separator vessel? Also, I may includes some chemistry parts in it so would that still be doable as long as I explain well and base the ia more on maths?

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4 hours ago, swl said:

Thanks for the help! I also had an idea where I could calculate mass, volume and surface area of a process separator vessel. I want to relate it to safety where I figure out the amount of vapour to released from the vessel to ensure that it is safe. I will consider using different types of materials such as water, ethanol, methanol or oil to determine how much vapour must be released for it to be safe when the vessel is operating. Also, the bigger the vessel, the more vapour that must be released. In this case, would personal engagement be awarded if I am going to learn maths outside of the scope of the syllabus and take initiative to learn about the process separator vessel? Also, I may includes some chemistry parts in it so would that still be doable as long as I explain well and base the ia more on maths?

This is a math IA. The goal is to demonstrate your math understanding, not your ability to solve a problem. If you mention chemistry (which I think you should), you have to understand that whatever you say about chemistry, does not contribute to your understanding of math. And yes, personal engagement be awarded in learning math on your own, and you can make note of it in your rationale.

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Learning some more math contributes less to personal engagement and more to mathematical understanding. Put some chemistry in if it makes sense. I'll say this now and I'll say this a million times: Write for your audience. Who is your audience? Your teacher. Math teachers love math and want to see how to extend it to the real world. If you can do that without too much jargon and make them really interested in what you're doing and EDUCATE them, then it shows you are a master of this topic and hence the personal engagement is self-evident.

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  • 3 years later...
On 8/25/2016 at 6:23 PM, swl said:

Hello! Recently, I have come up with calculating the volume and surface area of wine glasses for my Math IA (I am in Maths SL). I am just wondering whether if this idea is suitable for Maths SL and whether if it shows personal engagement. Since this idea would involved relatively more heavy calculus as I am at SL level, would it show personal engagement because I am attempting to learn something more challenging and outside the scope of the syllabus? In my opinion, it is not exactly unique or crazy creative compared to the sample IA's I see, for example graphing cosmetic contact lens patterns. Do you have any tips on how I could expand on the topic? I had in mind trying to find a surface area to volume ratio or a formula to relate/connect volume and surface area. Or I could explore how increases in height of the glass could change the surface area? But honestly I am not sure if it would be creative or interesting enough. I am not sure what the IB is looking for in terms of the IA.

Hi, I am just wondering how your Math IA ended up going and if you 1. were able to use this idea effectively in your exploration, 2. scored high on your IA. If you did use this idea, what were the main issues you faced and did they hinder your ability to meet top marks? I'm struggling to find a suitable idea that is going to be realistic and feasible in practice, yet also incorporate enough Math which is easy to understand and follow. 

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  • 1 year later...
On 11/6/2019 at 6:46 PM, Teresawerner said:

Hi, I am just wondering how your Math IA ended up going and if you 1. were able to use this idea effectively in your exploration, 2. scored high on your IA. If you did use this idea, what were the main issues you faced and did they hinder your ability to meet top marks? I'm struggling to find a suitable idea that is going to be realistic and feasible in practice, yet also incorporate enough Math which is easy to understand and follow. 

hi, just wondering did you do similar topic to that (optimisation) and if yes how did it go

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