Friday, 24 January 2025 UP FAMNIT welcomed a group of 200 high school students: Successful implementation of Mathematics Day

On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, and Friday, January 24, 2025, the Department of Mathematics UP FAMNIT organized the traditional Mathematics Day for students from Gymnasium Koper and Gymnasium Piran. Over two days, around 200 students gathered to attend lectures on the practical use of mathematics in everyday life.

On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, the students were welcomed by Prof. Dr. Marko Orel, Prof. Dr. Ademir Hujdurović, the Dean of UP FAMNIT, and Prof. Dr. Bojan Kuzma, the Head of the Department of Mathematics.

The diverse program offered a wide range of topics that the lecturers presented to the students interactively. The students were first divided into three groups, in which they attended the lectures and then participated in interactive workshops.

At the lecture titled Classical Winning Techniques in Mind Games, presented by Asst. Prof. Dr. Peter Muršič from the Department of Mathematics, the students learned about combinatorial games – turn-based strategy games between players, where the moves are predetermined and there is no randomness involved.

The lecture From Data to Information: Statistical Thinking in Everyday Life was given by Prof. Dr. Lara Lusa (UP FAMNIT and UL MF). She spoke about the vast amount of data generated today and emphasized that it must be properly collected and organized for data to become useful information. In the lecture, she presented examples where statistical thinking helps individuals convert data into meaningful information and better understand the world around them.

The lecture Games in Nature was conducted by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barbara Boldin. The students learned that the decision-making of animals in different situations can be represented as mathematical games and discovered the basic ideas of game theory.

After a short break, workshops by Aljaž Kosmač (UP IAM) followed, who led the workshop Where is the Zero of a Function, in which students explored various types of functions (polynomials, exponential, logarithmic, etc.) and used the computer tool GeoGebra.

Ajla Šehović (UP IAM) took the students into the world of cryptography with the workshop Mastering Codes: Unveiling the Secrets, where the young participants learned the basics of encryption.

In the workshop Mathematics of Everyday Social Decisions, led by Asst. Prof. Dr. Kenny Bešter Štorgel (UP FAMNIT), the students analyzed real-life decision-making examples. Together, they made decisions based on available information and analyzed them from a mathematical perspective.

Two days later, on Friday, January 24, 2025, we divided the students into two groups as part of Mathematics Day. They were welcomed by Dr. Ademir Hujdurović, Dean of UP FAMNIT, and Dr. Bojan Kuzma, Head of the Department of Mathematics at UP FAMNIT.

The students first attended the lectures From Data to Information: Statistical Thinking in Everyday Life, presented by Prof. Dr. Lara Lusa (UP FAMNIT and UL MF), and Classical Winning Techniques in Mind Games, presented by Asst. Prof. Dr. Peter Muršič (UP FAMNIT).

After a short break, the workshops Where is the Zero of a Function and Mastering Codes: Unveiling the Secrets followed, during which the students gained new knowledge and practical experience.

We have been organizing Mathematics Days at UP FAMNIT since 2013 to popularize natural sciences, particularly mathematics, among young people. The Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Information Technologies at the University of Primorska offers seven undergraduate study programs, including Mathematics and Mathematics in Economics and Finance. Students can learn more about the study programs and life at FAMNIT at the upcoming Informative Days, which will take place on February 14 and 15, 2025.

We thank the students and their teachers for attending and inviting them to our future events!