Math 480 - Homework 7
Draft due Thursday, May 7. If you do not turn in a draft then I will
not accept a final version, which is due Tuesday, May 12.
As usual, write in your diary as you do the following exercises.
TeX submission required.
- Modify the Benford's law Python module
../benford/benford.py to carry out the
experiments in the Experiments section of
benford.pdf.
- Choose an interesting miniproject and do it. I've suggested a
few possibilities in class, including
- Figure out how to do literate progamming in sage, with
sagetex. The hard part of this is getting the software to behave. You
don't need to do a complicated problem to prove that.
- Use Python or Mathematica to write a program that produces the
coordinates of the vertices of the pieces of a sliced cube when the
edges are divided into p, q and r pieces, as discussed in class. Then
figure out the coordinates of the pieces of a rhombic dodecahedron
when the inscribed cube is sliced as above. The coordinates should be
written neatly to a file.
Your TeX file should include pictures of the pieces.
If you write in Python you can probably get Mathematica to read the
coordinates and draw the pictures. When you draw the figures in
Mathematica you might be able to tell it to export them as TeX. You
can always save them as graphics files and include them in the TeX
file.
- Other possibilities ... suggest some.
- Write a wrapup document analyzing your experience in this
course. Here are some questions you might want to consider - but don't
just answer them one at a time. Use them as a guide for organizing
your thoughts into a coherent narrative.
- What did you learn?
- What do you think you will remember?
- What do you think you will be able to use in your other course
work or in your life after graduation?
- What (if anything) was the most fun?
- What was the most tedious?
- What recommendations do you have for me when I teach this course
again next semester?
- What recommendations do you have for a friend planning to take
the course?