Of self-driving cars and woollen sheep

With the MATH+ Cluster of Excellence, visitors to the HU exhibition in the Humboldt Forum are immersed in the world of mathematics

How can we ensure that there is less congestion on the roads? How can we utilise the volumes of data that we produce every day? And how can we ensure that electricity is available exactly where it is needed? Mathematics helps us to find solutions to problems that affect us in our everyday lives. ‘We live in a world of mathematics without realising it,’ says Dr Gorch Pieken, curator of the exhibition, which the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) will be presenting at the Humboldt Forum.

The clusters of excellence at Berlin’s universities, which are funded by the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments, are presented in the large foyer of the exhibition. One of them is the Berlin Mathematics Research Centre MATH+, in which the Technische Universität (TU) as the host university, the Freie Universität (FU), the Humboldt-Universität (HU), the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS) and the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) are involved.

A look inside the black box with MATH+

The curator explains that the Humboldt University’s exhibition at the Humboldt Forum will be permeated by mathematical questions and their applied solutions. This starts with the virtual school of fish that is projected onto a huge theatre curtain in the entrance area and reacts to visitors’ movements. It is mathematics that makes this school of fish possible, as well as many other visual representations of scientific research in the exhibition. These are played via computers or smartphones, among other things, which would not exist without maths. ‘Nevertheless, it is still a ‘mystery’ for many people,’ says Gorch Pieken. ‘That’s why we want to take a look inside the black box with the MATH+ cluster,’ explains the curator.

One obvious field of application is traffic. Many people use sat navs to get from A to B quickly. Various variables are included in the calculation of the suggested routes: Where is there a road closure, where is it clear sailing? ‘Behind this is a mathematical algorithm that can handle a lot of data,’ explains Prof Martin Skutella, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin and spokesperson for MATH+. ‘Our aim is to direct traffic in such a way that there are as few traffic jams as possible. Mathematical network optimisation helps us to achieve this,’ says Skutella. In future, the aim will also be to steer autonomous vehicles through the city.

All of Berlin’s maths under one roof

The prerequisite for such developments is the ever-increasing amount of data that is available in all areas of life and research. ‘Nobody can do anything with these huge amounts of data that are finding their way into our lives. That’s where maths comes in,’ says the cluster spokesperson. One of the core tasks of mathematics is to develop algorithms that can analyse and interpret large amounts of data in order to solve specific problems. ‘At MATH+, we are now facing the challenge of further developing the mathematical methods required for this,’ explains Prof Skutella. To this end, the cluster aims to unite all of Berlin’s mathematics – and therefore around 100 mathematical research groups – under one roof.

Mathematicians are also needed to optimise networks as part of the transition to renewable energies – an important topic of the inaugural exhibition. If there is no wind or solar energy available – for example when there is a calm or at night – gas-fired power plants, for example, can be started up to secure the energy supply. Researchers from the MATH+ cluster are also involved in controlling the Europe-wide gas network.

Robot sheep in the Humboldt Forum?

The Cluster of Excellence has been funded by the German Research Foundation since the beginning of 2019 and was officially opened in May. However, the top researchers are not only working with partners from the engineering sciences, but also from the life sciences, humanities and social sciences. In one project, they are working with archaeologists to investigate how the woolly sheep spread across Europe. Because sheep with longer coats evolved during the course of evolution, humans were able to start using this wool for clothing. Excavations can be used to determine where this innovation had already become established, explains Prof Skutella. Mathematical models then help to understand how the sheep spread.

Will there be robot sheep on show at the Humboldt Forum alongside virtual fish? Who knows? The inaugural exhibition has a modular structure and can be changed or added to at any time. There are plenty of examples of mathematical fields of application. From energy supply to local public transport, the age of the Anthropocene, the age significantly influenced by humans, holds numerous challenges in store. ‘We will have to think and do many things in a fundamentally different way, because it will not be enough to think of our future only as an optimised present. And maths will play a particularly important role in this,’ says Gorch Pieken.