Fractals, fractions and fun at the Nieu-Bethesda Maths Camp

NIEU-BETHESDA NEWS — The fourth annual Maths Camp took place this weekend in Nieu-Bethesda.

Ian and Katrin Alleman initiated this collaboration with Gustaf Weich (Regional Director of Operational Excellence, Aurecon), Daniel Boegli (a retired engineer), Elsie Weich (artist) and Ulrich Jantjies of Union High school - in a bid to expose learners to maths outside the classroom both literally and figuratively, and to ‘inspire the learners to see the pervasiveness and utility of maths.’

The group of 20 Union High learners literally bubbled over with excitement when asked about the weekend. Topics covered were the Fibonacci numbers, the golden ratio and fractals.

The learners enthused about making a ‘Menger Sponge’ from 2400 business cards. This is a ‘fractal curve’ that was first described by Karl Menger in 1926 in his studies of the concept of topological dimension. It was wonderful to see these learners genuinely enthralled and passionate about this concept and how they had managed to create their own Menger sponge in Nieu-Bethesda. Learner, Cameron Muir, explained how the sponge that his classmates made will be displayed in the school foyer and will be submitted to the Queen Mary University of London for inclusion in the Mega Menger website.

Fractals ‘make it possible to model seemingly random or even chaotic shapes such as a cloud, a flame, a mountain or a coastline. Rebecca Langmead’s eyes lit up as she explained – ‘the hills that we can out there are perfectly divisible into beautiful triangles…or fractals…and so are the branches of a tree – they are not random!’ Fractals have, ‘infinite detail and are self-similar in that zooming in on the fractal yields the same detail as the original shape,’ explained Gustav Weich.

Faith McDonald said that the weekend had really brought out the fun and relevant side of maths for her, and it proved how so many integral life functions involve maths. On Saturday the group was taken to the historic mill in Pienaar street. Here they were shown how fractions, formulas, and quantities are important as they literally ground wheat on the old millstone, figured out how economical the grinding mechanism actually is, worked out quantities, and culminated in making their own loaves of bread. That evening Ian showed them a fascinating slideshow on Antarctica where he lived and worked for a while.

The group also watched the movie, ‘Good Will Hunting’ and had the opportunity to view the moon through a telescope. The kindness and generosity of Ian and Katrin did not go unnoticed. The group of 20 was well fed and accommodated for the entire weekend and the learners expressed their gratitude for this magnanimous gesture.

Nieu-Bethesda is the perfect place for such a weekend. The learners were safe to explore the village on their own accord, some learned to ride bicycles in the dusty streets (perhaps mathematical formulae applied?!), they visited the quirky shops and restaurants, got to know some of the local dogs, and were generally well rewarded for their hard work over their high school years.

Gustav Weich and his team really gave of their all to inspire and stimulate this receptive group of learners. Elsie Weich designed beautiful ‘fractal’ t-shirt which each child received as a gift. The Union maths formal class came away with fresh ideas, inspired minds and a passionate approach to the subject of Mathematics.