7th Grade Trimester Project – Interest Starter List

The following list of topics should provide you with more than enough choices. However, you are welcome—and encouraged—to propose a topic of your own. The questions below are only samples of what you might want to investigate, to get your ideas flowing.

• Infinity

  • What happens in an equation when a number gets very large (goes out toward infinity)?

  • What’s the right way to “do math” with ∞?

  • What are common mistakes when doing math with ∞?

• Math in the Arts

  • What math is involved in drawings and paintings?

  • How have artists played with the math rules for interesting effects?

  • What math is involved in music, or architecture, or some other form of art?

• Games or Tricks

  • Discover games and tricks where math helps you solve the problem or perform “magic.”

• Logic

  • How can you use mathematical logic to prove somebody right or wrong?

  • Explore some interesting logic puzzles, including those of famous mathematicians such as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland.

• Astronomy

  • How far away are the various celestial bodies (planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies, etc.)? Can you explain to other people the relative distances?

  • Explore large astronomical distances like light-years and parsecs (the word was not made up for Star Trek).

• Number Systems (cultural)

  • What number systems have been used throughout history?

  • How were they different?

  • In what ways did the number systems affect the civilization?

• Mathematicians

  • You might be interested in one mathematician, or all mathematicians involved with geometry (or whatever), or mathematicians who made “big” discoveries. What are you interested in?

• Dimensions

  • Compare 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional math.

  • What would a 4th dimension mean?

  • How can we represent dimensions larger than 3?

• History of Math

  • Again: whatever you're interested in.

• Computers

  • What role has computers played in development of math?

  • What role has math played in the development of computers?

  • Are there interested math challenges that computers might be able to solve?

  • How do computers do math calculations?

  • Perhaps you want to be able to do “binary arithmetic,” just like a computer…

• Large Numbers

  • How do mathematicians represent really big numbers? (Hint: They don’t write lots and lots of zeros at the end of the number.)

  • How do you compare really big numbers and do math with them?

  • See the Astronomy questions.

• Prime Numbers

  • What are some really cool uses for prime numbers?

  • What are some unsolved questions about prime numbers?

• Pascal's Triangle

  • Explore the multiple uses for Pascal's Triangle

• Fibonacci Number

  • What are they?

  • Are they useful?

  • Are there other number series like them?

• Business Math

  • Discover the math behind any type of business that you are interested in.