Mathematics reveals hidden patterns that help us understand the world around us. Now much more than arithmetic and geometry, mathematics today is a diverse discipline that deals with data, measurements, and observations from science; with inference, deduction, and proof; and with mathematical models of natural phenomena, of human behavior, and social systems.
The process of “doing” mathematics is far more than just calculation or deduction; it involves observation of patterns, testing of conjectures, and estimation of results. As a practical matter, mathematics is a science of pattern and order. Its domain is not molecules or cells, but numbers, chance, form, algorithms, and change. As a science of abstract objects, mathematics relies on logic rather than on observation as its standard of truth, yet employs observation, simulation, and even experimentation as means of discovering

truth.

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Research is a systematic inquiry that investigates hypotheses, suggests new interpretations of data or texts, and poses new questions for future research to explore.

Research consists of:

Asking a question that nobody has asked before;
Doing the necessary work to find the answer; and
Communicating the knowledge you have acquired to a larger audience.
In practice, research methods vary widely, depending upon the academic discipline’s accepted standards, the individual researcher’s preferences, or a particular study’s needs. Research in science and engineering often involves conducting experiments in the lab or in the field. Research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences may include archival work in the library or on the internet, conducting surveys or in-depth interviews, and a wide range of creative and artistic projects- from costume design to playwriting to curating a fine arts exhibit.

Research is not a solitary activity –but an act of community. As a member of the research community, you are building on the knowledge that others have acquired before you and providing a road map for those who come after you. You are adding to a body of work that will never be complete. Research is an ongoing, collaborative process with no finish line in sight.

 

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The word project comes from the Latin word projectum from the Latin verb proicere, “before an action” which in turn comes from pro-, which denotes precedence, something that comes before something else in time (paralleling the Greek πρό) and iacere, “to do”. The word “project” thus actually originally meant “before an action”.

When the English language initially adopted the word, it referred to a plan of something, not to the act of actually carrying this plan out. Something performed in accordance with a project became known as an “object”.  Every project has certain phases of development.

 

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