The Webinar on Recreational Mathematics as a Teaching Tool took place on Friday, April 30th, 2021 from 12 pm until 1 pm, as our invited speaker. Carmen Giraldo, founding member of the Museum of Mathematics of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil, This virtual event was free and open to the general public.
The invited speaker started the virtual event by defining what we refer to as recreational mathematics. Dr. Carmen Giraldo then shared how games have been the source of many mathematical models, like for example the game of Hex, the kaleidocycle, the Rubik’s Cube, flexagons and the Soma Cube. The speaker also described the Dragon’s Spell, the puzzle “From the Square to Sam Lloyd’s Cross” and Henry Perigal’s dissection to prove the Pythagorean Theorem.
