IA ideas · Computer science
Maths IA ideas for computer science students
If you like programming, algorithms or how the internet works, the IA is a chance to look at the mathematics underneath: how search engines rank pages, how encryption keeps messages safe, how a calculator finds sin(x), and how networks are routed and coloured.
Code is welcome in a Maths IA, but it is not the mathematics. Describe each algorithm in words and notation, work one step by hand, and put the code in an appendix. The ideas below each have a clear mathematical core you can explain.
Next step: shortlist ideas with the free IA topic explorer, which filters starting points by course, interest and how easy the data is to get. For feedback on your own draft, the IA package (€39 once) gives you 5 AI feedback credits and every annotated exemplar in full.
Accessible (1)
Solid (10)
- How does a calculator work out sin(x)?AA HLAA SLSolid
- Planning the shortest delivery round: bounds for the travelling salesman problemAI HLSolid
- What is the cheapest way to connect villages with fibre broadband?AI HLAI SLSolid
- What is the fewest number of exam sessions my school needs?AI HLAA HLAI SLSolid
- How many different games of noughts and crosses are there?AA SLAA HLAI SLAI HLSolid
- How are letters drawn on a screen? Bézier curvesAA HLAA SLAI HLSolid
- How many attempts until the rare item? Drop rates and pity systemsAA SLAA HLAI SLAI HLSolid
- The Collatz conjecture: what can we say about stopping times?AA SLAA HLAI SLAI HLSolid
- Why does Pascal's triangle make a fractal?AA HLAA SLSolid
- Can statistics tell two authors apart?AI SLAI HLAA SLSolid
Ambitious (6)
- How does Google rank pages? PageRank on a small websiteAI HLAA HLAmbitious
- How does RSA encryption work, and how long would it take to break a small key?AA HLAA SLAmbitious
- How many flights does it take to get anywhere?AI HLAI SLAmbitious
- How many shuffles does it take to mix a deck of cards?AI HLAA HLAI SLAmbitious
- Can a simple rating system predict football results?AI SLAI HLAA HLAmbitious
- Why is the main body of the Mandelbrot set a cardioid?AA HLAmbitious
Frequently asked questions
Can I write my Maths IA about programming?
You can write about the mathematics behind an algorithm or a computation, and use code as a tool. The IA is assessed on mathematics, so the code belongs in an appendix and the body explains the maths.
Is a cryptography IA suitable for AA SL?
RSA needs modular arithmetic and number theory beyond the SL syllabus, so it suits confident students who can explain new mathematics clearly. AA HL students have more room to make it rigorous.
Which computer science IA suits AI HL?
Graph theory ideas — PageRank, the travelling salesman problem, minimum spanning trees, graph colouring — fit AI HL naturally, because network algorithms are in the course.
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