MATH2916 Working Seminar A (Special Studies Program)

This page contains information on the Intermediate Unit of Study MATH2916: Working Seminar A (Special Studies Program).

This unit is offered in Semester 1.

The lecturer for this unit of study is Mary Myerscough.

For further information on Intermediate Mathematics and Statistics, refer to the Intermediate Handbook.

You may also view the Faculty Handbook entry for MATH2916 from the central units of study database.

• Credit point value: 3CP.
• Classes per week: One hour-length seminar.
• Prerequisites: Entry into this unit of study is by invitation only, and is restricted to students with a High Distinction average over 12 cp of Advanced Junior Mathematics.

The main aim of this unit is to develop the students' written and oral presentation skills. The material will consist of a series of connected topics relevant to modern mathematics and statistics. The topics are chosen to suit the students' background and interests, and are not covered by other mathematics or statistics units. The first session will be an introduction on the principles of written and oral presentation of mathematics. Under the supervision and advice of the lecturer(s) in charge, the students present the topics to the other students and the lecturer in a seminar series and a written essay in a manner that reflects the practice of research in mathematics and statistics.

• The topic for this semester is: Calculus of Variations
• The convenor is Dr Mary Myerscough: Room 626, Email M.Myerscough@maths.usyd.edu.au.
• The weekly time slot is Monday 1pm in room 353 (note change of room from weeks 1 and 2).
• Presentations should take 50 mins which includes 10 mins question time
• An information sheet with details of assessment, references and toerh course requirements is available.
• Please watch this space for further information about the SSP unit

A list of topics with dates for presentation and the name of the presenter is given here. You are welcome to arrange a swap if you are not happy with your allocated topic or the time it is to be given. Please let me know if you do this.

Reports will be due, electronically in .pdf format before 1pm on the Thursday following your presentation, unless you give your report before Easter when the hand up date is 1pm on Monday 31 March.

I am very happy to look at a draft of your report and give you comments and suggestions. If you would like me to comment on the draft, please send or give me a copy no later than the Monday that you give your talk.

I will not set project work for this unit. You may be interested to see some project exercises from a previous year, set by Dr Peter Buchen. There is basically one project in two parts, Part A and Part B . If you would like to look at the answers to these questions, please come and see me.

Here is sample report, courtesy of Dr Daners, to help you prepare your technical write up. This is the LaTeX file that produced this document. You are welcome to use this file as a template if you would like to.

Here is an example of slides produced by LaTex which should be viewed using Acrobat. Here is the LaTeX file that generated the slides so that you can compare the input with the output. Please don't try to typeset this LaTeX file as you won't have all the inserted pictures and TeX will get upset. Instead trying TeXing Daniel Daners' file above.

The reference: Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences, (1998) by Nicholas J. Higham is being held in the Maths Library closed reserve to assist you in your technical writing. There is also a section on oral presentation.

You may also like to look at a short guide to mathematical writing produced by Daniel Daners.

The books on Calculus of Variation by Fox , Pars and Sagan are also in closed reserve in the Maths Library.

Reports will be added here as they become available. Topics 3, 4 and 8 will not be available due to student withdrawals.

• Topic-2       Martin Seneviratne
• Topic-5       Rish Verma
• Topic-6       Jon Xu
• Topic-7       David Kedziora
• Topic-9       Stephanie Wang
• Topic-10       Matthias Wong

  As you will see on the information sheet, you are required to assess one another's reports. Your peer assessments are due in by 2pm on Tuesday 10 June (Stuvac). Alternatively you may email me your peer assessment. If you do this, please make sure that your email contains all the information that is requested on the form.

If you present your talk electronically and you would like it to be put on the web for others to look at, please email it to me, or if it is a very large file, give it to me on a disk or flashdrive. If you would prefer not to put your talk on the web, that is OK too. It's really up to you.

• Topic-1       Mary Myerscough's talk