Senior Project Ideas

I would really love to do a project on how concepts that seem abstract (limits, extrema, linear approximations, etc.) are actually most common in nature and science than the easily grasped (addition, subtraction, multiplication, other basic functions). People tend to assume that calculus is some huge ethereal concept that can't possibly be connected to anything in the real world. In this project, I would apply this concept to common things like how a toilet flushes, what happens when a light fades on, or even what your couch is doing when it has a person sitting on it. These things all involve calculus, but anyone who wasn't looking probably wouldn't notice it. I want to expose the hidden numbers in these seemingly commonplace and everyday things.