Math is important in the world of sports. Numbers and statistics determine a player's value, his placement in a draft and even his salary. The winning team needs a certain number to be victorious. Even movement in sports has a mathematical equation. A student doing a math capstone project can calculate range of movement, speed of a baseball and home run distances using mathematical formulas. An example of a math capstone project in sports is to analyze a specific change to a player's swing and the effect that change has on batting average in baseball. For any sports buff, a capstone project involving mathematics and sports will be interesting and engaging.
Today's schools are struggling to find good math and science teachers. Some students choose to tackle math in education for their math capstone projects. Students can look objectively at how math is taught in elementary school or middle school and how it can be improved to better prepare students for higher-level math. Look at specific instructional strategies that are used to teach math and analyze their effectiveness based on student mastery and understanding. After analyzing strategy effectiveness, research and report on additional ways to better teach math to impact student understanding.
A more risque project for a student completing a math capstone project is to study the mathematical rationale for beating and winning gambling games. Blackjack is a good example of a card game that is won using math and probability. Other gambling games that involve mathematics include poker and craps. Statistically speaking, these games can be beaten using a knowledge of numbers and probability. A student can analyze wins and losses based on an understanding of how to beat the game and report on his findings.
Students with a particular interest in nutrition can tackle specifics of an individual's diet in monitoring caloric intake, caloric expenditure and weight loss. Working with a weight loss patient to measure body mass index, body fat and other body composition indexes and create a comprehensive health profile is a great start to this project. After completing the profile, the student develops a nutritional plan for the patient and monitors weight loss and other health-related numbers.