vismath – a platform for multimedia mathematics
(Mentor)
vismath
Mathematics is everywhere: in mobile phones, MP3 players, and computers, just to name a few; it is a fundament of science and technology. Still its reputation could be better: it is usually regarded as an abstract subject, tedious and too dry to be comprehensible, with its uses often remaining often a mystery.
vismath, founded in March 2010 and supported by an EXIST-grant, aims at a change: presenting mathematics in an inspiring and vivid way, accessible for everyone and unveiling its effective applications in today’s world.
The idea of vismath was inspired by the successful MathFilm Festival 2008, which brought mathematical movies to all over Germany with a great response. Following up this concept, vismath acts as an internet platform for mathematical movies and short films, interactive applets and 3D animations, books and other media to make the beauty of mathematics accessible to everyone. This includes the popular construction paper models for geometrical shapes (“Bastelbögen”) developed by the research group “Mathematical Geometry Processing” at Freie Universität Berlin. A great variety of geometries such as platonic solids or discrete minimal surfaces, suitable for all ages, makes mathematics concrete and even touchable.
vismath provides access to appealing mathematical contents both as supplementary teaching and information material for schools and universities, and for entertainment purposes for an interested audience.
In March 2010, the vismath GmbH was founded by a dedicated team of students and graduates, Philip Hornig, Anne Kahnt, Simon Krohn and Tobias Pfeiffer. The project is being supported by an EXIST-grant by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and mentored by Prof. Dr. Konrad Polthier, head of the research group “Mathematical Geometry Processing”.