What Mathematical Mysteries Lie Within the Architecture of the UA Campus?

The University of Alicante campus hides mathematical mysteries. Cylindrical towers, concentric rows, and an orthogonal prism are some of the architectural symbols present in the university village where 25 students from across the Valencian Community will focus their investigations.

The activity, in the form of a scavenger hunt, takes place this Saturday, and those selected to participate are young members of Estalmat (Stimulation of Mathematical Talent) from the Valencian Community. This educational program for children aged 10 and 11 aims to develop the mathematical skills and abilities of students with special talent in this field.

The goal of this initiative, organized by the UA's Mathematical Dissemination Group (Dimates), is to introduce attendees to the everyday world of mathematics. In this regard, the university campus features a series of characteristics with green areas and buildings that offer excellent examples of geometry, balance, and proportion.

The participants, divided into groups, will pass through different stations where a monitor will provide them with an educational sheet with tasks directly linked to the mathematical element or structure related to the stop. After overcoming the challenge, the young people will access an encrypted key that will give them the clue to find the next location and thus complete the route.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., students will explore much of the campus, taking as reference the following stops where they will carry out activities: Lecture Hall I (meeting point), Poets' Corner, University of Alicante Museum (MUA), and Lecture Hall II.

Since 2016, the mathematical route through the UA campus has been part of the Estalmat program. This activity is supported by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) - Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, through UA Divulga, the UA's Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+I).

Throughout the same morning, students also have the opportunity to participate in other educational activities such as "Optimization," a workshop led by José Antonio García, and "Folding and Cutting is Not Sewing and Singing," with Professor Roberto Selva.

In the first workshop, the aim is to explore how to apply optimization methods or techniques to find the best possible solutions to different types of problems, analyzing effective strategies and the open challenges that arise in this context.

The second is related to the consistent result of stating that any set of lines drawn on a plane can be cut with a single cut after folding it properly, and methods are proposed to construct the folds and address both simple and general cases. As a novelty, the Dimates group has promoted, with the placement of panels and an online map, a mathematical route through the UA for all audiences.