Anyone who wants to participate in the third edition of the National Mathematics Festival (FestMat), promoted by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (Impa), should hurry, because places are limited. Registration is free, is now open and must be completed at this address. The festival will take place on September 5th, 6th and 7th, at Marina da Glória, in Rio de Janeiro. Tickets will be collected at site of the festival.
FestMat is open to all audiences. “It has a very big ambition, which is to make people have fun with mathematics, to present mathematics in a playful, attractive way and, really, to be an event of entertainment and fun with mathematics,” he told Brazil Agency the general director of Impa, Marcelo Viana.
This year’s festival will focus on innovation and its relationship with mathematics. The theme is Mathematics is Innovation. According to Marcelo Viana, this occurs in two directions. The first is innovation in the sense of technology, to bring people the concrete impact that mathematics has, but also innovation in the sense of creativity, in the way of thinking, in the way of approaching problems.
“Creativity does not necessarily involve technology, but rather the direct interaction of people with mathematics, through games and puzzles. There is also a lot of ‘manuality’ that we are introducing in this festival,” he added.
Success
Although he defines the proposal as ambitious, Viana highlighted that it has also been very successful. The first FestMat was held in 2017 and had 18 thousand visitors. The second, held in 2022, had 14 thousand visitors, in addition to students from the school system and teachers. “I witnessed it myself. When it was time to close, we had to kind of push the children out, because the kids wanted more festival. It is very gratifying for us.”
In this edition, day 5 will be dedicated exclusively to visits to public and private schools, for which registrations are already sold out. Schools confirmed for the event will receive a QR Code access with the number of registered students. On the 6th, the space will remain open to schools until noon, when it will open access to families. On the September 7th holiday, FestMat will be exclusive to the general public. The classification is free “for people from 1 to 99 years old and with fun for the whole family”, joked Marcelo Viana.
The event has many partners, including the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan), which brings the truck with activities from Casa Sesi, and the Military Institute of Engineering (IME), which will bring a robot soccer game to the venue.
Impa will participate with the Center for Projects and Innovation (Centro PI), created by the institution to work with companies and authorities on technological applications of mathematics. Among others, the FestMat will present a project that is being developed for Petrobras; the Chuvas Project, a system for flood prevention in Rio de Janeiro using artificial intelligence (AI), for the city of Rio; and a project with the Amazon Institute of Man and Environment (Imazon), to improve the region’s deforestation rate, also using AI and data science methods. “The project will make this rate more accurate and agile, because artificial intelligence can analyze satellite photos and deforestation hotspots much more quickly and accurately,” said Viana.
The program also includes round tables, presentations and lectures with guests from Impa and partner institutions.
Impa
Founded in 1952, the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics is an internationally renowned mathematics research and graduate center offering doctoral, master’s, and professional master’s degrees. In 2024, the Institute launched its first undergraduate program, Impa Tech. It is also the organizer of the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (Obmep), the largest science Olympiad in the world in terms of number of participants.
