AMS 360

In partnership with Mathventure! 🎟️

Ever thought that logarithms are just the unintuitive version of exponentials? Let us change your mind!

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Research by: Brayden Ang
Designed by: Val Eltagonde

Midterms starting to pile up? 😨 Anxious for your next math exam? 😓 Don’t worry, ‘coz we’ve got three research-backed techniques to help YOU 🫵 ace that math test!

Check out how you can use spacing, interleaving, and growth mindset to boost your performance and, even better, give yourself long-term confidence in your own capabilities in math!

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Research by: Val Eltagonde and Brayden Ang
Designed by: Val Eltagonde

Things are coming full circle...

(get it, coz 360)

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter as seen in the following:

(1) Tale as Old as Time Riddles;
(2) Infographic Exhibits on the Mathematics behind Social Media Analytics, Visual Arts/Graphic Design, and Playground Games;
(3) Change My Mind prompts and analysis;
(4) Social Math Research and Quiz Bee;

Hope you enjoyed the AMS 360 content with Mathematics in any way, shape, or form. Until next time! 💖💖

Where stories come to life: Saunter into the interdisciplinary world of Mathematics during

Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘟𝘝 - 𝘚𝘶𝘣𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴

In another sudden turn of events, a craftsman approaches you and Tyrone to deliver a brief message: “Don’t forget to partake in this particular quest later at five in the afternoon… nowhere to run!”
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Where stories come to life: Saunter into the interdisciplinary world of Mathematics during

Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter to craft these riddles. Hope you enjoy solving them! 💖💖

❗❗𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔: 𝑯𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔 (𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑶𝑵𝑺𝑰𝑻𝑬 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑬 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔)❗❗

❗❗𝙄𝘾𝙔𝙈𝙄 - 𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙪𝙨 ❗❗

Riddles by Brayden Ang and Val Eltagonde
Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter to create these informational infographics. Hope you enjoy appreciating the mathematics behind playground games! 🤓🤓

Research by Kiyoshi So
Pubmat by Annika Montemayor and Paulo John Mercado

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter to create these informational infographics. Hope you enjoy appreciating the mathematics behind visual arts or graphic design! 🤓🤓

Research by Gabriel Yason
Pubmat by Annika Montemayor and Paulo John Mercado

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter to create these informational infographics. Hope you enjoy appreciating the mathematics behind social media analytics! 🤓🤓

Research by Vince Dexter Ang
Pubmat by Annika Montemayor and Paulo John Mercado

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter to create this fun interactive activity. Hope you enjoy changing our minds! 🥳🥳

Seek out different perspectives and opinions on (1) preferred mathematical theorems or formulas, (2) online games, (3) K-pop songs and (4) cartoons and anime through a series of tier list surveys each having six choices to rank accordingly.

The Travelers (LS students) scan a QR code that would redirect them to a Google Form where they may input their rankings.

Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter to craft this research on social mathematics with a bonus quiz bee. Hope you enjoy going through them! 🤩🤩

This is a simple check-in on how participants intuitively read data depending on how it’s presented (e.g. information present, scaling, visualization)

Answer 7 quickfire questions on data visualization with as much accuracy and speed as possible.

https://bit.ly/MathCon2023SocialMathQuizBee
https://bit.ly/MathCon2023SocialMathQuizBee
https://bit.ly/MathCon2023SocialMathQuizBee

Research and Quiz Bee by Dianne Yumol
Pubmat by Paulo John Mercado

AMS 360 has collaborated with MathCon 2023: Saunter to craft these riddles. Hope you enjoy solving them! 💖💖

Five (5) ONSITE riddles will be posted around campus, the first in the order to be found is within the SEC A Foyer area. Another set of five (5) ONLINE riddles will be posted on the MathCon page. Travelers who want to attempt to solve the riddle can scan the QR codes below the riddle placards and submit their answers.

For the onsite riddles, there will also be a clue regarding where the riddle they are solving falls in the total order of riddles.
They must locate, solve, and properly order all riddles (either 5 online or 5 onsite) to uncover the hidden story.

For an extra challenge, the first to complete both online and onsite riddles will get a prize!

Riddles by Brayden Ang and Val Eltagonde
Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

Don’t forget to catch our interactive website and on-site booths at SEC A Foyer, Doghouse, and Zen Garden from March 20-24!

Do you want to know why people hate data? 🤔 Then attend the culminating talk at the MVP Roofdeck on March 24! Oh, and by the way, this is a TALAB activity 😉

Speaker: Mr. Zachary Bisenio
Topic: People Hate Data: Social Mathematics
Date: March 24, 2023
Register now at link.ateneomathsociety.org/MathCon2223Registration

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘝𝘐 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴...

In the blink of an eye, you and Tyrone are at the Zealous Enchanted Naturistic Garden, or Z.E.N. Garden for short. In another blink of an eye, you and Tyrone are at a Deceptively Ordinary Gamer house, or D.O.G. house for short.

“Why are mushroom houses everywhere, and why are there so many glitches in this story world?”, you asked, quickly reaching out to Tyrone for safety. Tyrone responds, “We need to save this decaying story world! There isn’t much time left…”

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Don’t forget to catch our interactive website and on-site booths at SEC A Foyer, Doghouse, and Zen Garden from March 20-24!

Do you want to know why people hate data? 🤔Then attend the culminating talk at the MVP Roofdeck on March 24! Oh, and by the way, this is a TALAB activity 😉

Speaker: Mr. Zachary Bisenio
Topic: People Hate Data: Social Mathematics
Date: March 24, 2023
Register now at link.ateneomathsociety.org/MathCon2223Registration

Talk Synopsis: With the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science has grown to be an in-demand career among corporations today as they gradually see the value of information in making data-driven decisions. However, do people really need data science? In fact, do they even get data science? The talk explores the psychology of audiences when viewing data and the reasons for their perceptions of information. The talk also proposes data storytelling as the appropriate response to such thinking.

Saunter with us in where stories come to life.
Let’s immerse ourselves in the interdisciplinary world of Mathematics!
MathCon 2023: Saunter, March 20-24, 2023.
Open to all.

Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

Want to learn more about social math? 🤯 Data storytelling? 📖 Data visualization? 📊

Then you’re in luck, for we are excited to have Mr. Zachary Bisenio as the speaker of our culminating talk and author of this MathCon story like no other! 🎉

Culminating Talk: March 24, 2023
Register now at link.ateneomathsociety.org/MathCon2223Registration.

🎊Happy Pi Day! 🎊

Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

Saunter with us in where stories come to life.
Let’s immerse ourselves in the interdisciplinary world of Mathematics!
MathCon 2023: Saunter, March 20-24, 2023.
Open to all.

Join us in our culminating talk on social mathematics this March 24!
Register now at link.ateneomathsociety.org/MathCon2223Registration.
Only ONE week left till the path to Wander Grove is revealed!

Pubmat by Stacy Uy and Aubrey San Jose

𝕊𝕃𝕀ℂ𝔼 𝕆𝔽 ℙ𝕀 𝕍𝕆𝕃. 𝟜 𝕀𝕊𝕊𝕌𝔼 𝟚

Many people get lost in math, but the only thing I get lost in is your eyes… 😌

Hey, Ateneans! just ended. While everyone was busy falling for someone or for their majors, we at AMS 360 fell harder for math! So much so that we thought, what if we use math to… help our love lives? 😳💘

In today’s , we investigate the exciting ! From finding your romantic Atenean odds 😼, why 37% is a magical number ✨, to a mathematically-proven way to stay strong 💪, we researched it so you don’t have to!

For the single people, ever wondered why you haven’t met The One yet? For the couples, have you wondered whether or not there are certain practices that can help you maintain a healthy relationship? Like for most things, math gives us a clue for these!

Throughout the 20th century, mathematics has already helped us predict all sorts of things: the weather, stock market fluctuations, and even planetary motion. Math is ultimately the study of patterns, and guess what else is full of patterns: romance!

Sit back and relax as we explore the Drake Equation, Optimal Stopping Theory, and the Relationship Equations to give you more insight on the inner workings of math in love. More than technicalities, it reveals a better understanding of love, not just as an instantaneous feeling, but as a pattern-based human behavior!

[ℙ𝕚-𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕝𝕪 | ℍ𝔸ℙℙ𝕐 𝔽𝕀𝔹𝕆ℕ𝔸ℂℂ𝕀 𝔻𝔸𝕐]

It is Wednesday, my dudes… AAAAAA… 🐸but more than that, we are celebrating another special day for all the Math nerds out there! 🤓

Mark your calendars because November 23 is the annual celebration of Fibonacci Day! Italian mathematician Leonardo Bonacci is widely regarded as one of the most talented mathematicians during the Middle Ages. His legacy includes his most notable composition, Liber Abaci, which introduced the Hindu-Arabic numeral system and several advancements in mathematical calculations.

Despite the renowned status of Liber Abaci, it is often overlooked that the book heavily focused on the mathematics of trade, commercial arbitrage, valuation, and even metallurgy (Goetzmann, 2004). However, his exposition on the Fibonacci sequence through the rabbit problem is one part of the book that has received the most attention. It laid the foundation towards a mathematical relationship with phi, or the golden ratio, which has captivated humankind since its discovery (Meisner, 2018). It is purported to be present almost everywhere in our nature, from naturally-existing specimens like shells and flowers up to man-made creations such as art and architecture. Across centuries, it gradually gained acclaim as the ‘divine proportion’, the basis for all of the aesthetically-pleasing patterns (Yalta et al., 2016).

Some mathematicians, though, contend that the golden ratio might not be as ‘golden’ and overly special as it may seem. Contrary to its supposed prevalence, they showed that instead of Φ, there are numbers more closely linked with nature like π, e, and even √2. Take crystal structures as an example. Even if quasi-crystals, which exhibit icosahedral symmetry, feature the golden ratio, it is relatively rare compared to cubic crystals which involve ratios of √2 and √3. Going further, the golden ratio is nowhere to be found in the formula for optimal crystal packing density, that is π/(3√2) (Budd, 2020).

Numbers are indeed fascinating, we see a lot of patterns in nature that will amaze us how they relate to a seemingly abstract concept like Math. However, we should not fall into the trap of finding even the most spurious relationships between Math and nature. Sometimes, things are just the way they are.

[ℙ𝕚-𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕝𝕪 | 𝕐𝕆𝕌ℝ 𝔸𝔻𝕊 ℂ𝔸ℕ 𝕊𝔼𝔼 𝕐𝕆𝕌]

Knock, knock! Na-budol na ba ang lahat noong 11.11? 🤔 If yes, then this might be the perfect read for you para iwas budol na next time. 😌

Do you ever wonder how that shirt you’ve been wanting to buy suddenly appears in your advertisements? That’s not a coincidence, companies actually know what you want to see on your timeline. It is no secret to many that companies collect our data to use them, but what are the processes behind this data mining and how do they process such data?

As the e-commerce industry continues to be the largest and fastest-growing industry in the world today, more and more data are being generated and collected from users. Among these are buying history, frequency, and search preferences, in addition to personal information. From these large and noisy datasets, they employ data mining techniques that efficiently extract relevant data and help uncover not-so-obvious relationships among existing sales data (Ahmeda et al., 2015).

The data mining process works hand-in-hand with machine learning. Through machine learning, several algorithms are implemented by e-commerce platforms to gauge various parameters like customer satisfaction and behavior. Statistical and probabilistic methods like Naïve Bayes and Apriori are two of the most commonly used algorithms (Moon et al., 2021). The former is tasked to solve classification problems while the latter creates association rules among related data entries.

Now, the output of this complicated process manifests through “optimization technologies” tailored to help each unique customer in finding relevant products by content-based filtering (Guo et al., 2017). These are also known as the recommender system, or the budol finds/shopping finds often popping up as suggested products, and the personalized ads appearing on various websites and social media platforms.

Although personalized ads may seem like a good thing for consumers, the whole process of creating these targeted ads has some ethical concerns, especially with the invasion of privacy. Additionally, targeted ads promote discriminatory practices that allow companies to tailor their ads to certain demographics (Rotter, 2018). Some ways to avoid websites from gathering your data include using a private browser, installing an ad blocker, and clearing your internet cookies (Chen, 2018).

[ℙ𝕚-𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕝𝕪 | ℙℍℙ 𝔸𝔹𝕆𝕍𝔼 𝔼𝕏ℙ𝔼ℂ𝕋𝔸𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ𝕊]

When T-Pain said “She hit the floor (she hit the floor), next thing you know, shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low,” the Philippine Peso felt that. 😔

On October 28, 2022, the Philippine Peso value closed at P57.97 against the US dollar (BAP, 2022), which can be traced to BSP's decision to raise key policy rate by 50 basis points due to high inflation rate (Villanueva, 2022), along with continuous rise in the US Federal Reserve’s policy rate, affecting other foreign markets and central banks around the world, (Piatos, 2022)

With the Philippines being an import-dependent country for some basic food products, it is not surprising that their prices would increase – and consequently, contribute in catalyzing the inflation – since we are paying more pesos for them (Rivas, 2022). These items include sugar, salt, and agricultural products.

The purchasing power of the public also goes down as the peso weakens. A significant portion of the population whose salaries do not depend on the US dollar would bear the brunt of higher costs of living (Montecillo, 2022). Since the cost of living increases while the salaries remain the same, it could lead to involuntary hunger.

Further weakening of the peso aggravates the current state of market prices. Aside from the implications brought by fuel price hikes, the current phenomenon also contributes in triggering the rapid uptick of inflation and making food security harder to fulfill.

Although inflation is not necessarily detrimental to the economy when controlled to a low and steady rate, its impacts are now pronounced amidst the weakening peso. For example, credit card holders and loan borrowers would pay more due to increasing interest rates in efforts to temper inflation. The working class are faced with higher prices of commodities with the same amount of income. If the income does not improve to offset the hike in market prices, inflation will continue to negatively affect the majority, especially the lower income bracket.

𝕊𝕃𝕀ℂ𝔼 𝕆𝔽 ℙ𝕀 𝕍𝕆𝕃. 𝟛 𝕀𝕊𝕊𝕌𝔼 𝟜

Isn’t it fascinating when detectives solve crimes using fingerprinting? Behind the little crevices at the tip of your fingers are countless patterns, and detectives use these patterns to check if their suspects match their evidence. How do they do this, though?

Join us as we see how detectives become mathematicians, quantifying the confidence of their matches and the patterns in our fingers, and how these calculations matter most in the court of law.

Research by: Mica Dizo and Brynx Alegarbes
Poster by: Ellyn Lee
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References:

Cole, S. A., & Scheck, B. C. (2017). Fingerprints and miscarriages of justice: other types of error and a post-conviction right to database searching. Albany Law Review, 81(3), 807–850.

Fakiha, Bandr. (2020). How Technology has Improved Forensic Fingerprint Identification to Solve Crimes. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology. 29. 746-752.

Grose, I. C. (2017). Fingerprint identification: Potential sources of error and the cause of wrongful convictions. Journal of Student Science and Technology, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.13034/jsst.v10i1.171

Gu, S., Feng, J., Lu, J., & Zhou, J. (2021). Latent Fingerprint Registration via Matching Densely Sampled Points. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, Information Forensics and Security, IEEE Transactions on, IEEE Trans.Inform.Forensic Secur, 16, 1231–1244. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIFS.2020.3032041

Hoy, A. Q. (2017, September 15). Fingerprint source identity lacks scientific basis for legal certainty. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www.aaas.org/news/fingerprint-source-identity-lacks-scientific-basis-legal-certainty

Koehler, J. J., & Liu, S. (2021). Fingerprint error rate on close non‐matches. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 66(1), 129–134.

National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2017, August 14). Scientists automate key step in forensic fingerprint analysis. NIST. Retrieved March 26, 2022, from https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2017/08/scientists-automate-key-step-forensic-fingerprint-analysis

[ℙ𝕚-𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕝𝕪 | 𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕙-𝔾𝕦𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕕 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕓𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕓𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℍ𝕒𝕚𝕣]

Knots are part of having long hair—which is quite problematic in the long run. It hurts when you try to forcefully untie them and, adding insult to the injury, detangling them is a tedious process and requires a lot of time. This mundane dilemma poses quite a challenge to all people who have long hair but interestingly, a mathematician has dealt with this problem using a mathematical model. Now, are you curious?

The mathematics behind combing has been obscure in human knowledge for quite some time now, and many have not even dared to know the mathematical implications of such knowledge. Yet, in this installation, a group of mathematicians will prove you wrong as the mathematics behind combing proves to be relevant in other fields such as chemical processes that involve textile processing.

The challenge of tear-free hair brushing was solved thoroughly by Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, the Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and of Physics. In his collaboration with Thomas Plumb Reyes and Nicolas Charles, they have discovered the optimal brushing technique: ”start at the bottom, work your way up to the scalp with short, gentle brushes, and apply detangler when necessary.” This proves to be effective in detangling a bundle of fibers which is also useful in textile and fabric processing.

How did they come up with this result? In their research, they simplified the knot problem by tangling two helix filaments and assigning numbers to the forces and deformations when combing the tangled filaments. They called this data the “link density” which “....characterizes the amount of hair strands that are braided with each other, consistent with simulations of the process,” as stated by the co-author of Mahadevan and graduate student at SEAS Nicolas Charles. Furthermore, they have also identified the optimal minimum length of each stroke which is crucial in ensuring a pain-free and quick detangling.

The mathematical principles of brushing have been observed and applied further by MIT Professor Daniela Rus and her team to design algorithms for brushing hair by a robot. Going one step further, the team behind the unveiling of the mathematical model and principle of combing aspire to study the mechanics of brushing curlier hair and how it responds to humidity and temperature.

At first glance, we can never expect that math can be discovered and related to everyday tasks such as combing your hair. Even behind the simplest of things, mathematical principles govern the way that we live which is quite relevant in combing your hair. By simplifying and quantifying the knot problem, other researchers have also explored its application such as textile processing and designing an algorithm for brushing hair. It, therefore, goes without saying that mathematics is in the details.

Research by Limuel Generoso

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References:

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. (2022, April 13). Tear-free hair brushing? All you need is math: Researchers develop a mathematical understanding of detangling that could be used for textile manufacturing, robotic hairdressers. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 27, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220413203128.htm

𝕊𝕃𝕀ℂ𝔼 𝕆𝔽 ℙ𝕀 𝕍𝕆𝕃. 𝟛 𝕀𝕊𝕊𝕌𝔼 𝟛



You love it or you hate it, but Wordle has taken the internet by storm for the past months. Whether you are simply playing the game for fun or using fancy algorithms to find the most optimal starting word like CRANE, there is joy in exercising your brain every once in a while. While there have been numerous articles and videos that already performed a detailed analysis on Wordle, we will just share with you some of our favorite strategies we came across since it uses the one thing we love: mathematics! Join us as we explore the logic and reasoning to win in Wordle, Quordle, Squabble, Taylordle, Saltong Cardeggs, or any variation of this game.

Research by: Seth Tionko, Matt Alejo, and John M.
Poster by: Aiden Gattud
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References:
Goggins, L. (2022, January 11). Why Playing the Internet's New Favorite Game Can Help Keep Your Mind Sharp. Eatingwell. https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7941586/wordle-cognitive-health-research/

Kerins, G. (n.d.). The Math Of Winning Wordle: From Letter Distribution To First-Word Strategies. Artofproblemsolving. https://artofproblemsolving.com/news/articles/the-math-of-winning-wordle

Klerlein, J., & Hervey, S. (2021, January 6). Mathematics as a complex problem-solving activity. Generation Ready. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://www.generationready.com/white-papers/mathematics-as-a-complex-problem-solving-activity/

Olson, J. (2022). Optimal Wordle Solutions. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://jonathanolson.net/experiments/optimal-wordle-solutions

The Power of Vowels for Emergent Readers. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://nepeantutoring.com.au/the-power-of-vowels-for-emergent-readers/ #:~:text=Understanding%20vowels%20is%20the%20foundation,their%20ability%20to%20read%20correctly

What I Learned from Playing More than a Million Games of Wordle. (2021). Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://towardsdatascience.com/what-i-learned-from-playing-more-than-a-million-games-of-wordle-7b69a40dbfdb

3Blue1Brown. (2022, February 6). Solving Wordle using information theory [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v68zYyaEmE

3Blue1Brown. (2022, February 14). Oh, wait, actually the best Wordle opener is not “crane”… [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/fRed0Xmc2Wg

[ℙ𝕚-𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕝𝕪 | 𝟙𝟘 𝕐𝔼𝔸ℝ𝕊 𝕆𝔽 𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝕎𝕆ℝ𝕃𝔻 ℍ𝔸ℙℙ𝕀ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕊 ℝ𝔼ℙ𝕆ℝ𝕋]

Last March 18, 2022, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) released the 10th annual World Happiness Report (WHR). This year, the Philippines ranked 60th out of 146 countries globally and 2nd out of all Southeast Asian Countries. Our country slightly improved compared to the previous year, in which we ranked 61st globally. Our score also improved from 5.880 last year to 5.904 this year.

Now in its tenth edition, the WHR identified and analyzed the trends and patterns of the various factors that affect happiness as we enter the third year of the Coronavirus pandemic. Since its inception in 2012, the report takes a closer look at the data that influence the rating of happiness in different countries. This year, the report focused more on the analysis of how life has changed during the first two years of the pandemic.

But how do we measure happiness? The methodology of the researchers was quite easy to comprehend. Through a two-year survey conducted by Gallup World Poll from 2019 to 2021, they were able to get the answers of people to different life evaluation questions. Essentially, respondents were asked to compare the rating of their “ideal” life to their current life. Using a 10-point scale, the score of the countries were ranked.

Some might still question the validity of this report. Luckily, the researchers provided a detailed explanation of their sample. It turns out that for each country, around 1,000 people were asked to participate in the survey – giving them a total of 3,000 respondents for the entire duration of the study. Proper sampling methods were done by the researchers to decrease the sampling errors as much as possible. Thus, they were able to provide a report that has a 95 percent confidence interval.

The results of the survey were then all compiled to give a score called the life evaluation score. This is taken from six factors: levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption. The UNSDSN chose these six variables after reviewing related literature that focused on national-level differences. While some may argue that there are more important factors, it was also important for the researchers to obtain an objective way of measuring all countries.

All in all, the insights we have from the WHR do not reflect the general happiness of every citizen of a country. The report merely serves as a guide for us to gauge which important fields we have to improve on as a community. Whatever life evaluation score or rank the report presents, what’s more important is how you personally lead a happy life.

Poster by Bianca Mallari and Helene Sy
Research by Miguel Yapan and Migs Cardaño
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References:

Helliwell, J. F., Layard, R., Sachs, J. D., De Neve, J.-E., Aknin, L. B., & Wang, S. (Eds.). (2022). World Happiness Report 2022. New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

[ℙ𝕚-𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕝𝕪 | 𝕎𝕆𝕄𝔼ℕ'𝕊 ℍ𝕀𝕊𝕋𝕆ℝ𝕐 𝕄𝕆ℕ𝕋ℍ 𝕊ℙ𝕆𝕋𝕃𝕀𝔾ℍ𝕋: 𝕄𝔸ℝ𝕐𝔸𝕄 𝕄𝕀ℝℤ𝔸𝕂ℍ𝔸ℕ𝕀]

The Fields Medal is widely considered to be the highest award in Mathematics. Given only once every four years, receiving it is an honor likened to the receipt of a Nobel Prize. For almost eight decades, this distinction was one that was only given to men. Thus, in 2014, it was considered a remarkable feat – and a welcome change – when a mathematician named Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman to be awarded with the prestigious Fields Medal.

Maryam began to gain prominence in Mathematics from a fairly young age. She was among the first girls to represent Iran in the Iranian Math Olympiad team, where she gained international recognition after earning a gold medal in 1994 and achieving a perfect score in 1995. Her experiences in these competitions allowed her to foster a deep love for mathematics, as she believed that you had to spend energy and effort in order to see the beauty of math.

In her adulthood, Maryam was known for her fearless and persistent tendency to tackle the most difficult questions in Mathematics. She was ambitious – she believed that life wasn’t supposed to be easy, and she took joy in taking things slow and choosing complex problems she could ponder on for years.

Due to her slow and steady approach in her work, her research often gained praise from fellow mathematicians. Maryam liked crossing the boundaries between different areas of mathematics, connecting her work to differential geometry, complex analysis, and dynamical systems.

Arguably, Maryam’s most notable work is on rational billiards, which she worked in collaboration with another mathematician named Alex Eskin. This problem concerns the trajectory of a ball which bounces around a polygon-shaped billiards table. It was dubbed as “a titanic work,” with applications beyond the game of billiards.

To date, Maryam Mirzakhani remains the only female winner of the Fields Medal. Undoubtedly, her work has had a lasting impact on her field, and even years after her death, Maryam remains an icon in the world of Mathematics. But more than that, Maryam’s story serves as an inspiration to young girls and to women who dream of going into male-dominated fields like Math. Without a doubt, history will always remember Maryam not only as a great mathematician, but also as a role model to all women in STEM.

Poster by Bianca Mallari and Helene Sy
Research by Jojielyn Espiritu
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Reference:

Klarreich, E. (2014, August 12). A Tenacious Explorer of Abstract Surfaces. Quantamagazine. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from https://www.quantamagazine.org/maryam-mirzakhani- is-first-woman-fields-medalist-20140812/