Indonesia: trail of the month

This month, the trail “MATEMARDIKA ZOO-A” (code: 2416904) was downloaded over 180 times. It has thus surpassed all other trails. The trail was created in Semarang, Indonesia, and contains 5 tasks. These were created in the Semarang Zoo in a tourist area to commemorate Indonesia’s 78th Independence Day.

MATEMARDIKA is a combination of the words matematika (mathematics) and mereka (you/them). The trail in honor of Indonesia’s 78th Independence Day is to invite people to celebrate the day in a mathematical way, support Semarang Smart City and implement mathematics education in the real world, as well as introduce the tourist destinations of Semarang city.

Since 2013, the city of Semarang has had a smart city concept, through which various information technologies are to be implemented and realized in the city. In 2019, the city of Semarang was recognized by the Ministry of National Development Planning as the best city in the Development Awards. The acronym BE SMART CITY stands for “Based on E-gov, Semarang More Accountable, Realistic and the Transparent City”.

One task from the trail shows how wonderfully the creators of the trail have linked information about the zoo and the surrounding area with mathematical content:

“Semarang Zoo is not only a place to conserve animals, but also has numerous parks. The gardens are designed to support the comfort of visitors. In the play area, there are seats built around cute cow puppets. The seats are also used as large pots with shade plants or ornamental plants. The seats are large enough to accommodate several people at the same time. How large is the area of the seat (in meters²)?”

(Source: https://mathcitymap.eu/de/portal/#!/trail/2416904)