Name: _________________________
FAMOUS MATHEMATICIANS ASSIGNMENT
Due: Friday 19 May 2006
Task: To research a famous mathematician and present your findings as a poster for
display or a PowerPoint presentation.
Your presentation should indicate the mathematician’s name, biography including
significant mathematical milestones and dates, contemporary importance, relevance to
mathematics today (particularly mathematics learnt at school) and a brief explanation of
the mathematics for which they are known. The assignment must contain a bibliography.
Three class lessons will be allocated for library and computer work for the assignment.
The remaining work needs to be done at home. Each assignment will be marked by yourself
and the teacher using the marking criteria.
The presentation is limited to one sheet of cardboard (A2). Those students doing a
PowerPoint presentation should have no more text and visuals than would fit on a sheet of
cardboard.
Note: Because of the difference in source material for different mathematicians, up to 5
points will be added for researching mathematicians with limited material available or who
developed mathematics which is beyond Year 8 level. These bonus points would be added
to marks for bibliography, biography, mathematical relevance or mathematical
achievements.
Possible mathematicians:
Maria Agnesi, Ahemes or Ahmes, Al-Khwarizmi, Archimedes, George Boole, Brahmagupta,
Georg Cantor, Girolamo Cardano, Augustin Cauchy, John Coates, Pierre de Laplace, Richard,
Dedekind, Rene Descates, Diophantus of Alexandria, Albert Einstein, Eratosthenes,
Escher, Euclid, Leonhard Euler, Pierre de Fermat, Leonardo Fibonacci, Fourier, Galileo
Galilei, Galle, Karl Gauss, Sophie Germain, Kurt Godel, Christian Goldbach, Edmund Gunter,
David Hilbert, Hipparchus, Hypatia, Kanada, Kasner, Omar Khayyam, Koch, Joseph
Lagrange, Leverrier, Lobachevsky, Ada Byron Lovelace, Mattessiah, Mayer, Mobius, John
Napier, Isaac Newton, Nicole Oresme, Blaise Pascal, Leonardo of Pisa, Plato, Henri
Poincare, Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Ramanujan, Robert Recorde, Simon Stevin, Niccolo
Tartaglia, Thales of Miletus, Tsu Ch’ung-chih, Alan Turing, Francois Viete
Marking Criteria
My Teacher Possible Criteria
Mark Mark Mark
Presentation
0 Messy
1 Appearance indifferent
2 Well organised
3 Visually appealing
4 Effective presentation
Biography of Mathematician
0 No biography
1 Limited biography
2 Biography mainly copied
3 Biography written in own words.
Contemporary importance of Mathematician
0 No mention of contemporary importance
1 Poorly stated
2 Clearly articulated statement of contemporary importance
3 Contemporary importance clearly explained
Relevance
0 No explanation given
1 Partially explain relevance to today’s mathematics
2 Clearly articulated relevance to today’s mathematics
3 Personalised relevance of their mathematics
Mathematical achievements
0 No mention of mathematics
1 Area of mathematics mentioned, but no explanation or examples
2 Limited explanation or examples of mathematics
3 Good explanation or examples of mathematics
4 Good explanation and examples of mathematics
Bibliography
0 No bibliography
1 Limited bibliography (only 1 reference or only used books supplied)
2 Poorly referenced bibliography
3 Appropriately referenced bibliography using multiple sources
Expected results
Excellent 18-20 I would expect some students to score 20 for this assignment.
Very Good 15-17
Good 12-14
Poor effort <12 It is relatively easy to score 12 marks for this assignment.