Hands-on mathematics
More than 260 students from all grades from all over Franconia and beyond came to the 16th Day of Mathematics at the University of Bayreuth. In groups, they worked on math problems that required not only academic ability, but also imagination and creativity.
A total of 268 students and their accompanying math teachers and parents accepted the invitation of the Mathematical Institute of the University of Bayreuth to the 16th Day of Mathematics. With imaginative group names such as “Die Glücksbärchis” (MWG Bayreuth), “Die Gaußtronauten” (Dientzenhofer-Gymnasium Bamberg) or “Franz & Gloria” (GCE Bayreuth), the budding mathematicians solved challenging problems.
In addition, “hands-on labs” and escape rooms offered hands-on and experimental mathematics: Important for the upcoming vacation season were the tasks in the optimization lab to pack a rucksack in the best possible way, to fly around the world in the cheapest way or to find the quickest route between the hotel and the beach. The lab "tile patterns" offered tile samples with permission to touch them or design them yourself. The tasks varied from tracing regular patterns to laying a parquet pattern with a single piece that has no symmetry whatsoever. The latter is a geometric problem that was only solved last year! In the "split-end puzzle" lab, everyone could find their favorite puzzle and learn about others.
The program was rounded off by three lectures covering a wide range of topics. Prof. Dr. Anne Leucht from the Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg began her lecture “A look into the future: On the uncertainty of forecasts” playfully with “Heads or tails”. She went on to look at diverse data such as temperature trends, population figures, share prices and the question of how these can be predicted mathematically and how accurate these predictions can be.
Dr. Bastian Pötzl (TenneT, graduate of the University of Bayreuth) emphasized how useful his knowledge from his mathematics studies is in solving real problems in his presentation “With mathematics to the energy transition: Control power on the test bench": How is electricity generation and transmission controlled so that security of supply is ensured for companies and private consumers? Checking whether claims and reality match requires the analysis and interpretation of large amounts of data.
Martin Braun (NeuroForge GmbH, computer science studies at the University of Bayreuth), who spoke on the extremely topical subject of “AI and Big Data: Not just ChatGPT”, also deals with large amounts of data. He explained what artificial intelligence is, how it is programmed and how systems based on it can support consumers and companies. AI is already a part of everyday life for all of us. This talk was especially designed for the students, for whom AI will play a big role in their future.
From left: Prof. Dr. Anne Leucht, Dr. Bastian Pötzl und Martin Braun during their talks at the 16th Day of Mathematics
© all Photos: Jörg Rambau
At the end of this entertaining and educational day came the highlight for the pupils: the award ceremony. Of the 73 teams from 19 schools in 14 towns, first place was won by teams from Dientzenhofer-Gymnasium (Bamberg, grades 5/6), Gymnasium Fränkische Schweiz and RWG (Ebermannstadt and Bayreuth, 7/8), Gymnasium Christian-Ernestinum (Bayreuth, 9/10) and Celtis-Gymnasium (Schweinfurt, 11-13). Second and third places went to teams from Markgräfin Wilhelmine Gymnasium, Graf-Münster-Gymnasium, Gymnasium Christian-Ernestinum (all Bayreuth), Gymnasium Ernestinum (Coburg), Gesamtschule Hollfeld (Hollfeld), Frankenwald-Gymnasium (Kronach) and Celtis-Gymnasium (Schweinfurt).