Math Modeling is the “Math” class that I’ve been taking this year, and it’s like no other math class I’ve ever taken before. We’ve done topics in number theory, trigonometry, algebra, and even some math competition problems. It’s a lot harder than math classes I've taken before because the answer is often a lot more hidden, but that’s what makes it rewarding. Having a revelation and solving a difficult problem is a very exhilarating experience.
Over the summer I had to read Fermat’s Enigma. I know, it’s a little weird that we had to read a book for math, but it was actually really interesting. The book was about how the proof of a deceptively difficult math problem came to be. All they had to do was prove that A^n + B^n = C^n either does or doesn't exist, where n is an integer greater than 2. Doesn’t it look so easy? Maybe you could sit down and think about it for a day and come up with some numbers? Alas, it took work from some of the most brilliant mathematicians to exist over 358 years to finally come up with a proof. Below is my reflection on the book.
This was a group project, where we had to make an algorithm that could find the day of the week a given date is. Using the algorithms we made, we could determine what days of the week anyone was born on. This seems like a pretty tough problem at first, but with the concept of modulus fresh in our minds from the class, we could end up with an algorithm that worked. You can view that algorithm, and even try it for yourself, below.