Math 380: Computational Algebraic Geometry (Spring 2026)
Your final project should consist of an expository paper and a poster presentation on June 8. You may work in groups of 1-3 students. More details and suggested topics are below. To propose a topic and group, send me an email with all group members cc'ed with a topic, at least one reference, and list of all group members.

Important Dates

Friday, May 22 -- Have finalized project and group, approved by instructor by email
Monday, June 8 -- Poster Session 2:30-4:20pm in IEB 205
Monday, June 8 -- Submit final paper on Gradescope by the end of the day

Description

The project (both paper and poster) should be on a topic related to computational algebraic geometry. Some suggested topics and references are below. Both should be understandable to someone familiar with Chapters 1-4 of the text book, in particular, to a fellow member of the class. You should give a brief description of the topic along with relevant definitions, ideas, and results, but you do not need to include proofs. Your exposition should include at least one example that is not in the source material and at least one theorem (that can be from the source material). The paper should be about 3-5 pages long.

Use of LaTeX for typesetting is encouraged but not required. See, for instance, the following tutorial for more details. Overleaf is a popular online editor.

I will provide posterboards on May 29 that can be used for the final poster session. This will be an opporunity to tell the other students in the class about your topic.

Suggested topics

Below is a list of possible final projects topics with references. Some references are provided as a starting point, but you may find it helpful to consult other texts, articles, or websites. Remember to cite your sources appropriately. You are welcome to suggest your own topics if there is another area or application you are interested in, so please feel free to discuss your ideas with me.

TopicReference
Robotics and Automatic Geometric Theorem Proving (**taken**)CLO Chapter 6
Invariant Theory of Finite Groups (**taken**)CLO Chapter 7
The Projective Algebra-Geometry DictionaryCLO Section 8.3
Bezout's Theorem (**taken**)CLO Section 8.7
The Dimension of a Variety(**taken**)CLO Chapter 9
Additional Groebner Basis Algorithms CLO Chapter 10
The Complexity of the Ideal Membership ProblemSee Appendix D of CLO, Project 1
Computer Graphics and Vision (**taken**)See Appendix D of CLO, Project 8
Algebraic Statistics (**taken**)See Appendix D of CLO, Project 13
Groebner Bases for Graph Coloring and Sudoku (**taken**) See Appendix D of CLO, Project 14
Toric Varieties See Appendix D of CLO, Projects 15 and 16
Integer Programming and Combinatorics (**taken**)Using Algebraic Geometry by Cox, Little, and O'Shea, Sections 8.1, 8.2
Grobner Fans/The Grobner Walk (**taken**)Using Algebraic Geometry by Cox, Little, and O'Shea, Sections 8.4, 8.5
Algebraic Coding Theory (**taken**)Using Algebraic Geometry by Cox, Little, and O'Shea, Chapter 9
Stanley Reisner Ideals Combinatorial Commutative Algebra by Miller and Sturmfels, Sections 1.1, 1.2
Sums of squares and the real NullstellensatzSolving Systems of Polynomial Equations by Sturmfels, Chapter 7
Universal Groebner Bases Groebner bases and convex polytopes by Sturmfels, Chapter 7
The Combinatorial Nullstellensatz (**taken**)Combinatorial Nullstellensatz by Noga Alon