EXPORATION:

Overall feedback and suggestions to everyone:

(The Criteria in brackets is where marks would be deducted if you don't follow these suggestions.)

1. Be sure to humanize the language in your paper. Use simple language, easy to read and understand. This paper is
not an academic journal nor an essay; it is a math exploration that will explain to the reader what you are trying to
say in easy to understand terms. Use simple language when explaining ideas, equations, concepts, graphs, etc. Your
audience should be anyone with a basic knowledge of math, the average reader, someone like a relative, a friend, a
colleague, a peer, etc. Do not try to impress people with fancy language. It can result in a mark
deduction. (Criteria A and/or E)

2. Do not use short forms of words. For example, avoid "sub in" or "plug in" instead use "substitute." Avoid "the
norm," instead use "the normal practice" or "the standard." Do not use "sin" or "cos" in a sentence, instead say
"sine" or "cosine." If using an abbreviation, the first time you introduce it state what it is. For example, before
using NHL as an abbreviation, be sure to state: "the National Hockey League (NHL)" beforehand. (Criterion A)

3. Do not use headings to transition from one section to another. Heading may have been used for the EE, but
should NOT be used in a Math Exploration. When transitioning from one idea to another, use sentences and
paragraphs to say what you are going to do next, rather than letting a heading say it for you. On that note, do not
let a quotation, image, title graph title, etc., say it for you either. You must say in words what you are about to
present, then show the quotation, image, graph, etc. And, if necessary, afterwards, tell the reader what they
should notice. For example, "The following table will present the data from ....," then show the table, then say
something like, "Notice that the price is increasing as time is increasing," or "Notice that there is an abundance of
negative values in this section," or say whatever you want to the reader to notice. Do this for EVERY image, chart,
table, graph, calculation, etc. (Criteria A and/or E)

4. When obtaining a result, bring meaning to it. Conclusions, conclusions, conclusions! For example, it is ok to say
something like, "The volume of the object is 25 mL," but this does not tell the reader very much. Try to expand on
the result by explaining what that means. For example, it is better to say, "Therefore, the volume of the object is
25 mL which is rather small compared to the other objects. This is important because the smaller the volume, the
less expensive it will be to reproduce the object." This gives the reader a much better idea why the result is
important. (Criterion D)

5. When extending the ideas in your paper, do not say that you are extending the ideas in your paper. Many of you
started your conclusion with something like: An extension to my paper is .... This is not the best way to present
your ideas. Say something like: If I were to explore this idea further, then I would .... (Criteria A, C and/or D)

6. If exploring other ideas, do some research. It is ok to say you would explore this idea or that idea, but it is
better if you did some research to see what would be involved in exploring the idea. (Criteria C and/or D)

7. When concluding, do not be overly verbose. Your conclusion should be clear and concise, and broken into
manageable paragraphs so the reader can follow what you are trying to say. If your conclusion is too long, it may
mean that you didn't say enough throughout your paper when concluding each calculation. This is also true when
stating limitations. It is better to state limitations throughout, rather than all at the end. See above point
4. (Criteria A, D and/or E)

8. Watch mathematical form! This cannot be stated enough. Define variables, include units, label axes on graphs,
use different function names for different functions, etc., etc., etc. Always start a calculation with variables or
words. For example, start a calculation with: " P(B) =" or "The probability of ... =" or "# cars =" or "Price =," etc.,
etc. You get the idea. Be clear in telling the reader what you are calculating. And, by the way, variables are x, y,
f(x), g(x), etc. Variables are not the same as parameters. For example, in the equation y = asinb(x+c) +d, the
letters x and y are variables, which need to be defined. But the letters a, b, c, and d are parameters that you will
calculate, and they do not need to be defined. (Criterion B)

VARIABLE AND FUNCTION NAMES

Function and variable names should be different for each case.
You might want to use the same function name (such as volume or surface area) for different objects or a series of
functions for your modelling, put in subscripts to distinguish each of them

THE 3 SIGNIFICANT FIGURE ISSUE

3 SF when it is possible for any final answer on exams; IA markers suggest we follow common senses for
explorations.

Here are some ideas:

• Money: depends on currencies, in dollars, 2 decimal place is a common practice. Some currency, such as
Japanese yen, they do not go less than 10 yens, so do not go to even the unit.
• Interest rate: depends on the compounding period, if it's compounded daily, we might have to go to 5, 6
digits.
• Probability: between 0 and 1, therefore 4 decimal place is a common practice. You can convert to % to end
at 2 decimal places.
• Trigonometry ratios: also 4 decimal places.

Coefficients of (modelling) functions.

The calculators/programs give you up to 10 decimal places, your functions are too long to fit in one line.
Ask yourself:

• do I need all these digits?

• Does the 10th decimal place make sense?

you could try to truncate your numbers and graph it again, as long as it very close to the original curve, it would be
fine.