Optimization with bubbles

Abstract: 

The School is involved in many dissemination activities to promote and engage students in Mathematics.
It is always interesting to find creative ways to explore mathematical concepts  and to challenge intuition.
I will present in a playful way an activity that I prepared to introduce the concept of optimization using bubbles and soap films. It consists in a series of materials that will allow us to gain some intuition on the Isoperimetric problem, optimization of paths or minimal surfaces, among some other questions. The seminar will be quite interactive and I would love to get your feedback to improve the activity for future uses in the School.

About the speaker:

Ana was born in Madrid, Spain. She completed her PhD in 2015 under the supervision of Javier Cilleruelo at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. She has been a postdoc at UNSW since 2015, where she collaborates with Igor Shparlinski.
Ana's research focuses on additive and combinatorial number theory and, until now, follows two different lines:  

- Concentration and distribution of solutions to equations in congruences

- Additive and arithmetical structures in random sets.

She deeply enjoys discussing mathematics and science and for that reason she is involved in all sorts of dissemination activities.