Come and spend an afternoon at ISEG/UTL, as part of the UTL Math Routes Discovery initiative. This is the 4th edition that targets secondary school students.
You can see mathematics in action. Come and see the geometry hidden in famous paintings, come and see how you can make money on the stock market, come and see how statistics can help us, but also how they can lie to us. You will see architects, biologists, sportsmen, diplomats, economists, engineers, journalists, computer scientists and veterinarians explain how they apply geometry, calculus and statistics.
The 21st century needs people who know mathematics. To be a good engineer or veterinarian, you need to know how to measure and calculate. To be a good manager or economist, you need to master numbers. To be a good architect or designer, you need to know geometry. Can mathematics also help coaches to overcome the challenges of a game?
Can it help improve health and fitness?
Come see the power and beauty of mathematics! Come see and choose your future!
PROGRAMME
-14h00 | Reception
WORKSHOPS
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14h30 | Let's improve the world!
Prof. Pedro Verga Matos, ISEG-UTL
Resources are scarce... and there are so many people needing help and so many different ways to help! In a development support project, how do you weigh up the different objectives to choose the best solution? There is only one way... using the tools of mathematics.
-14h45 | Mathematics in games of chance (or luck?)
Prof. Alfredo Egídio dos Reis, ISEG-UTL
We gamble and spend our money for the pleasure of the game or for the money we might win. Or even both. We gamble to win. In games of chance, where winning or losing is the result of chance, of "luck", mathematics may not help us win... but it does help us assess our odds. Take the EuroMillions.
-15h00 | The nine possibilities of the penalty kick
Prof. Pedro Freitas, FMH-UTL
Is the taking of a penalty just a technical matter of feet, or can it also be taken with the head? And how does it relate to the work of a mathematician who won the Nobel prize for economics? Do the players know this?
-15h15 | GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
- The Mathematics of Money
This activity aims to unravel the mathematics behind the calculation of a business's profit. How much does a business have to sell to make an operating profit? At the beginning of a business year, it is possible to calculate sales needs to achieve the entrepreneur's main goal: profit.
- Probability and surprise
Should we be surprised when a baby is born at 3.05am on May 3rd weighing 3500g? Or when we meet someone at a party who has the same birthday as us? Nothing like doing the math to be sure....
- Magic or Mathematics?
How some very simple mathematical principles allow you to make truly magical effects.
- Auctions
Students will learn some economic principles by participating in various types of auctions.
17h00 | Closing