The 3rd year essay offers the opportunity of producing an original and personal account of a mathematical topic of your own choice going beyond the scope of existing lecture modules. It will test your ability to understand new mathematical ideas without detailed guidance, to use the library in a resourceful and scholarly way, and to produce a personal account of a piece of maths. The essay should be 6,000-8,000 words in length, and comparable in content to ten lectures from a 3rd year maths module. As a rough guide, you should expect to spend at least 100 hours on this option. You are supposed to find a member of staff willing to give you, and advise on, a choice of the topic (to learn about scientific interests of members of staff in the domain of mathematics you are interested in is already a part of your task) who will be also responsible for the marking and suggesting the second marker.