Math Trail at Heidelberg University

The MathCityMap idea lives from its active users and task creators in different places. Today, we would like to present a new trail at the University of Heidelberg that Mr. Niccolò Rigi-Luperti created there. In a short interview, for which he was thankfully available, we would like to let him speak for himself and give us an insight into the background to the trail creation.     

How did you hear about MathCityMap?

Through my job as a scientific assistant in the project “MINTmachen!”. There, we bring students closer to MINT subjects through e.g. holiday courses, workshops at the Girls-Day or possible BOGY-stays at the university (www.mintmachen.de). My boss (Dr. Michael Winckler) had learned from MathCityMap and asked me to get to know the app to see if and how we could integrate it into our work.   

How did you get the idea to create your own trail? Have you created this for a particular event or target group?

It seemed to me the best way to get a feeling for the app and the job. According the target group, I was thinking of math-physics-computer science first semesters, which should solve small group tasks in the introductory days for mutual learning. In my opinion, this is a very good way to do this, especially because they are doing maths together and seeing different campus locations.

What mathematical content and skills are required in your trail?

In the order of the four tasks: simple probability calculation, precise counting of objects, trigonometry and potential & kinetic energy, combinatorics.   

Which of the tasks is your “favorite task” and why?

The third task, “wheelchair“. I think it is nice to see the slope as a large acceleration ramp. It is the only physical task, and it can be solved in different ways, but they are of varying complexity. The easiest way to do this is to use energy conservation. Doing so, you solve the problem quite efficiently, it is only necessary to do a few line transformations as well as a single length measurement.