This page is for the module MATH3015 History of Mathematics as taught at the University of Leeds in 2019–20. The module now has a slightly different structure, but some of this information might still be useful.

This module is taught in three parts:

  1. History of Pure Mathematics, lectured by Dr Nicola Gambino, assessed by a short essay
  2. History of Applied Mathematics, lectured by Dr Phil Walker, assessed by a worksheet on historical mathematical techniques
  3. History of Statistics, lectured by me, assessed by a group poster project

The final assessment is a long essay.

This webpage is about the third part of the module, on the history of statistics.

Lecture notes

Due to recent disruptions, there will only be 4, not 6, lectures.

Poster project

This project will count for 20% of your module mark.

Topic

You will need to work together as a group to create a poster about one of these three topics. Your first task as a group will be to decide which topic.

1. Make a poster tracing the development of the graphical representation of circular data, including the impact of the work of Florence Nightingale.

2. Make a poster explaining John Snow’s statistical work in response to the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak, and its influence on medical statistics.

3. Make a poster describing some ways in which probabilistic or statistical modelling has been important in the history of finance.

Deadline

The deadline is 11:59pm on Friday 27 March 2020. Your group’s poster must be submitted electronically via Minerva.

Format

I strongly recommend submitting your poster in PDF format. PowerPoint, Word, or other common formats will probably be fine, but I can’t guarantee your poster will look identical on my computer as it did on yours. You may use any program to design your poster; LaTeX (try the beamerposter package) and PowerPoint are particularly recommended, and almost all programs can export to PDF format.

The School of Mathematics will print your poster at A1 size (594 × 841 mm), which can be either portrait or landscape. I recommend designing your poster at A1 size too, so that you can make sure the design style, font size, and so on, are appropriate.

Your poster should display your names and your group number. The group number should be clear within two seconds of looking at the poster.

Tips and hints

Some helpful hints on creating good posters can be found, for example, on the websites http://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design and http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/. You can find more excellent advice using your favourite search engine.

Why the group project?

One of the objectives of MATH3015 is that it should develop transferable skills, including skills valued in the workplace. The group project will give you some experience of teamwork, the challenge to organize yourselves, and to overcome any difficulties. Being able to create a presentation is a useful skill – so while you may decide to split the researching, writing and designing sides of the assignment, I hope you will each feel ownership of the finished poster.

Assessment

Each group’s poster will be awarded a mark out of 20. An individual mark out of 20 will be calculated by adjusting the group’s mark up or down, depending on individual contributions.

  • Group mark – module leader: I will award each poster a mark out of 15.
  • Group mark – peer assessment: Each of you will be allocated two posters to grade. Your colleagues’ marks of your group’s poster will be aggregated into a mark out of 5. (Further details on the peer assessment will follow nearer the time.)
  • Group mark– total: The group mark out of 20 is the sum of the module leader’s mark and the peer assessment mark.

To assess individual contributions, your group will be asked to submit an “individual contribution” form, where your group decides by consensus how large a contribution each group member has made. (Further details on the “individual contribution” form will follow later.) Most individual marks will be very close to the group mark, but the mark will be slightly increased for members who made a particularly strong contribution, or slightly reduced for group members who worked less than their share.

Assessment criteria: Your poster will be marked primarily on the quality of the historical and mathematical content, including the originality of the work – that is, the evidence of reading and sourcing of material – and the clarity of the exposition. Also important is the presentation of the poster: the visual appeal, the use of graphics, how clearly your poster can be understood from a distance, etc.

Referencing

It’s important that your poster acknowledges the primary and secondary sources you use, but it’s up to you how you choose to present this. It’s not necessary to follow any particular referencing style.

Timeline:

  • From Monday 9 March: Work on your poster, together with your group.
  • By Friday 27 March: Submit the group’s poster, along with the “individual contribution” form.
  • Monday 27 April – Friday 1 May: Posters are displayed in the School of Mathematics; posters are marked, including peer assessment.
  • Friday 8 May: Marks returned.