The solution to the equation is t = 6. The population of
Utopia is at its smallest 6 years after the plague begins.
Make sure that the arguments you write are carefully organized. It may help you to
write an outline before you begin writing a mathematics paper. Writing an outline will also
help you think about the concepts more clearly and thus will help you learn the material.
As you write about more advanced mathematical problems, organization will become even
more important.
Writing for your audience.
For most papers that you write in your math class, you should assume that the reader has
about the same mathematical knowledge that you have. When you write up the solution to
a homework problem, it might be helpful to think that you are writing to a student in
another section of the same class or in a similar class at another school. Some of the papers
you will be writing will be directed toward a reader who may know less math. The purpose
of a math paper is not just to show the professor that you know something. Your math
professor already knows the subject; you are not writing for his or her benefit. You are
writing for someone who doesn’t know the subject. (That someone may be you! You can
use your writing assignments to help review for exams.)
In your mathematics writing, you will be communicating to the reader why and how
you arrived at a solution. You will also want to convince your reader that your particular
reasons and your particular means to the solution are correct. A good mathematical paper
not only should provide clear explanations, but should also be able to persuade a skeptical
reader.
Many times, if you can arrive at the same solution through alternate routes, you can
make your writing more persuasive. You may want to analyze a problem using both
computers and algebra. Or you might compare a graph with real-world information.
Pictures and graphical depictions can be very helpful for your reader.
Specific examples will also help to make your writing more persuasive. You can help a
reader understand an abstract general argument by showing how the argument applies to a
specific case. You can also use “extreme” cases to show the limits of an argument.
Make sure that what you write is relevant to the problem. Including extraneous
comments or information demonstrates a lack of understanding of the ideas and concepts,
and reduces the overall effectiveness of your mathematical writing. Thinking about the
reader will help you to decide which details you need to include and which details you
should leave out. Calculations which are tedious and uninteresting to the reader can be
readily omitted. (Again, mathematics writing is not the same as showing work. You don’t
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