The students work in teams on certain practical problems with knowledge mainly from one of the following or related areas for mathematical modelling, then present their outcomes in final reports and posters.

(a). Data visualisation, data fitting, and linear regression.

(b).  Time  series  analysis,  in  particular,  autoregressive  integrated  moving  average (ARIMA) models.

(c). Graph theory, in particular, shortest path and minimum spanning tree.

(d). Linear programming, in particular, simplex method.

DESCRIPTION OF FINAL PROJECT

(1). The duration from the release date to the due date is 6 weeks, for example, 18 November - 30 December 2024, or any other equivalent period.

(2). Students are free to find classmates to form teams, each typically consisting of 3 to 6 members.

(3).  Every  student  team  designates  a  team  leader,  responsible  for  the  duties  of communication, submission, etc.

(4). Every team find one or several related practical problems worthy of study and of appropriate level regarding the academic background of the team members.

(5). The practical problems could be adapted from reliable resources, such as problems from previous mathematical contests in modelling, e.g., MCM/ICM, CUMCM, from textbooks or reference books, or could be designed by the team members themselves out of consideration of the real world around them.

(6). The practical problems should be solved mainly with the theories and techniques in the aforementioned areas for mathematical modelling.

(7). The relevant computation could be  fulfilled with  any computer programming language or software / application / program in which they are skilled, not limited to Matlab or Python.

(8). The team members are suggested to take different roles for different tasks such as modelling, programming, and writing, and meanwhile cooperate closely with each other.

(9). The outcomes ought to be demonstrated in a final report and a poster, both written in English.

(10). The final reports and posters be marked according to criteria in modelling, results, and writing, respectively.

(11). The contribution of each team member be reviewed and graded by every other member in the team. We call the results peer marks.

(12). For each student, this Final Project contributes 65% to the overall mark of the module MTH020. The final report contributes 50% to the mark of the Final Project, the poster 30%, and the average peer mark 20%. Support files ought to be submitted at the sametime, although carrying no marks. More details are in the Marking Scheme below.

(13). The final report and poster could be produced with  software / application / program such as Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, a LaTeX typesetting system, or the like. There are LaTeX distributions MiKTeX under Windows, MacTeX under macOS, TeX Live under Unix / Linux, and CTeX for Chinese language, etc., all with full compilation  system and compatible  editors.  But,  the  website https://www.overleaf.com/seems particularly easy to use for beginners.

(14). The format of the final report ought to be a PDF document of A4 paper size, portrait orientation, suitable font, font size, margins, line and paragraph spacing, etc. There is no limit of number of pages.

(15). The format of the poster ought to be a PDF document of 80cm*140cm paper size, portrait orientation, suitable font, font size, margins, line and paragraph spacing, etc., on a single page.

(16). The final report could include a title page with the title, list of team members, summary,  and key words, properly structured sections and subsections  such as statement  of  problems, assumptions,  models,  calculated / computed  results  with analysis, conclusions and discussions, references, appendix of programming code, etc.

(17).  The poster  could include the title,  list  of team members,  abstract, problem, assumptions, models, results, conclusions, and references.

(18). Whenever necessary, definitions, propositions, remarks, and equations should be numbered consistently and cross referenced properly, as well as proper citation of the references in the context.

(19). Existent templates from various resources may be used for your final report and poster, and award-winning papers of prestigious mathematical contests in modelling could betaken as exemplars.

(20). Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, are  allowed  to use  in knowledge  learning,  reference  searching,  resource  locating, content  polishing,  programming  code  generating,  and  so  forth.  But,  (i)  explicit declaration should be made in any part done aided with AI, (ii) websites and names of AI tools should be clearly included in the references part, and (iii) the entire record for the sessions of dialogues with the AI tools should be completely appended to the final report, after the appendix of programming code.

(21). At different  stages  of the  Final Project, the module examiner will send out announcements via email from the Learning Mall Core. More instructions will be provided for technical steps such as grouping students into teams, collection of peer marks, submission of final reports and posters, etc.

(22). Outstanding posters maybe printed out for public display to a broader audience.

(23). Any violation of academic integrity will result in penalties and demerit points. For detailed information please refer to the University’s ‘Academic Integrity Policy’ and the ‘Student Discipline Point System’ appended to the ‘Regulations for Conduct of Examinations’ .