Math 300 Spring 2009

Major Writing Assignment #3

Pick one of the problems from the 2008 Comps Exam with which you had some difficulty, either because you couldn’t remember the concept, particular definitions or solution methods, or because you got stuck even though you thought you knew how to approach the problem.

Write a relatively short (probably more than one page but less than thee pages) paper that does the following:

· Restates the problem

· Provides background to solving the problem – by stating needed definitions, formulas, solution methods, etc.

· Presents a solution to the problem

Key issues to consider:

· Make sure you’re writing (text, with mathematics embedded) and not just stringing a bunch of symbols, expressions, or equations along the page. This is especially key as you start solving the problem – include connectors and commentary as you work through the various steps. You might want to check out a journal article, such as in The College Mathematics Journal, to see examples of how this is usually done. Some text books are better than others at doing this.

· Make sure there is appropriate context for the statement and solution of the problem – in other words, you probably don’t want to start the paper with the exact statement of the problem as it appears on the Comps Exam. But also don’t start with “Buckmire is making me write about a problem from the 2008 Comps Exam. So here we go.”

· Consider handing this to your DWA major friend down the hall. Without you explaining it to them, could they understand why you wrote this short paper? Can they generally follow it (perhaps without understanding the details of the mathematics, since you may assume basic familiarity with the concepts by the reader); this is a great check to make sure it’s not just a string of mathematical symbols? Or would they just say “Looks like math homework to me”?

· Since you will likely need to include mathematical symbols throughout the paper, you may either use Word (or similar program) with equation editor, begin learning some mathematical typesetting program (such as TeX, which is supported here at Oxy – some seniors and others know how to use this program), type the written work and write in the mathematical symbols/expressions/ equations very, very neatly, or write out the whole paper very, very neatly.

Final draft due: Tuesday April 21, in class or by email by 1:30pm