MathCon 2024: Seeing the world differently through mathematics

Last 31 January 2024, the Ateneo Mathematics Society (AMS) held its annual MathCon event. The theme this year is “Mathematics is a Sense,” as the event aims to showcase some of the many ways mathematics is used to make sense of the modern world. Students of various courses attended the varying sessions to listen to four resource speakers relay their knowledge and experiences with mathematics in their respective fields.

The first talk of the day, titled “Risk Management is Fun! How to Tell a Good Story in Quantitative Risk,” was given by Kristine Faith D Valle (SGV & Co. / Ernst & Young Philippines). She began by sharing two stories: the 2007 financial crisis (failure in managing credit risk), and the 2023 collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (failure in interest rate risk). She then spent the remainder of her talk educating the audience about the basics of risk management, and giving a concrete illustration of the mathematical processes needed to measure financial risk. She then concluded by encouraging more people to take up a career in risk management, saying

If you’re really into numbers and into telling stories behind numbers, [the process from] building these models, until communicating them to the stakeholders is very fulfilling

A lighter and more engaging discussion followed Ms Valle’s session. The second speaker, Niccolo Angelo R. Vitug, instructor in the Ateneo Department of English, talked about the relationship between math and music. Mr Vitug started off by initiating a group singing activity using the first few lines of Ateneo’s hymn, “A Song for Mary.” He seamlessly connected this brief musical exercise to the underlying mathematical principles in music. His talk consisted of four main points: pitches and ratios, the role of math in acoustics, patterns within musical compositions, and the application of geometry in singing. He emphasized that while musicality and talent are essential for proficiency in music, an understanding of mathematical principles is also very helpful.

Music is built on certain principles from math, from the very beginning,

he said towards the closing of his session. Indeed, in every symphony, harmony, and even dissonance, there is mathematics.

Later in the afternoon, Melissa Cardenas of Environweave Integrative Environmental Research gave a talk titled Measured Steps: The Mathematics of Environmental Footprints. Using Boracay island as an example, Ms. Cardenas gave us an overview of the various aspects behind waste management, such as funding and costs, logistics of collecting, transporting, and processing trash. She also touched on the various relationships between waste generation rate and factors such as GDP, population density, and urbanization. Finally, Ms Cardenas showed some eye-opening statistics about the Philippines and other countries in terms of waste management. Based on the data she presented, the Philippines ranked third globally in marine plastic litter. She ended her speech by encouraging the audience to take small steps towards minimizing and better management of our day-to-day waste.

The last speaker in this year’s MathCon spoke about math in art and literature. In her talk titled “Threads, Lines, Equations (or How Math Makes Me a Better Artist),” Dr Rica Bolipata-Santos, Director of the Ateneo de Manila University Press, reflected and shared her personal journey with mathematics by focusing on two main ideas - what she called two main “secrets” of the universe. First is that “Everything is connected” and, second,  “Everything is a language.” While recognizing her difficulty in appreciating the kinds of questions in her math classes during college, she was able to reconcile this disconnection with the view of mathematics as a language, a tool, and an extension of her vocabulary that can actually help her gain a wider perspective. In true literary fashion, she ends her speech with a simple yet comforting idea of counting, saying, 

In the world of chaos, the world offers a way out and this command is to simply count. As long as you can count yourself you can never be lost.

Along with the hundreds of MATH10 students in attendance, this whole day event made us aware of the workings of mathematics in various fields: finance, music, environmental management, and literature, and art. It promoted a greater and deeper sense of appreciation of mathematics in everyday modern life. Collectively, we realized that mathematics is a sense in a way that, like our other senses, it is not just something we have to activate, rather it is something we unknowingly utilize.

Photos courtesy of AMS