Title: Studying Polyhedra with Advanced Digital Tools

 Speaker: Vera Viana

Abstract: Approaching geometric concepts of three-dimensional space without the proper tools to visualize them is a known reason to undermine, not only their understanding, but how mathematics may be understood and appreciated. Branko Grünbaum expressed his hope that, in a near future, the development of computers would improve the methods of presentation of mathematical concepts which, by the end of the 20th century, were acceptable for not much more than the simplest situations. Nowadays, we have highly effective tools at our disposal that allow us to solve such problems and may be used to improve STEAM in higher education. 

Geometry and visualization have always been areas of interest for me, not only for my academic background in arts and descriptive geometry, but because I am a visual learner. My will to explore digital technology and visual computing grew alongside my enthusiasm for polyhedral geometry and, in this presentation, some of these explorations will be shown.