Coming up...

Join Mathateca at the Festival of Women and Girls in Science banner

Join us at Tūranga from 10am-3pm Saturday 15th February for an inspiring and hands-on STEM festival perfect for scientists aged 5-15 and their whānau.

 

Mathateca will be running our 3D printing exhibition, delivered in collaboration with Christchurch City Libraries.

Watch this space for info about our next events and displays.

 

If you have an idea for something mathsy you'd love to see or collab with us for, let us know! 

You can read what sorts of things we've got up to previously below.

Pi Day: Calculating Pi From Scratch

Calling one-and-all to attempt to calculate as many digits of pi as we can, using nothing but paper and pencil.

Can we beat Matt Parker's 2024 attempt?

On Saturday March 15 2025, number enthusiasts in Christchurch are gathering in the Rātā Building, rooms 222/223, University of Canterbury to try to calculate as many digits of pi as we can by hand. 

If you can do long division (or are willing to learn) then you have the required skills to participate. Come along, and bring your friends!

The event runs between noon - 5pm; turn up anytime.

There will be a short presentation at 1:30pm about pi.

 

Mathateca is proud to support this valiant calculation effort for the 2025 International Day of Mathematics.

Past events

Festival for Women and Girls in Science (Feb 2024)

 

To celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (Sunday 11th Feb 2024), Mathateca joined University of Canterbury Schools of Science (LEAF network) and the Canterbury Museum delivering an all-day STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) outreach expo at Tūranga, called the Festival for Women and Girls in Science.

The goal behind the festival was to share the excitement of taking part in scientific research and demonstrate the important contribution that women make to science, with a particular focus on activities for girls aged 10-18 and their families.

 

The event had 17 interactive exhibits: from Antarctica to volcanoes, sentiment mapping to seed planting, chemical engineering to fossil hunting, a planetarium dome, and even a "human library" where you could chat to researchers about their work. Our very own Rata Ingram was behind Mathateca's Mathematical 3D Printing exhibit.

 

Rata had used the publicly available 3D printers at Tūranga Library to make mathematical demonstration objects, models and puzzles that encapsulate all sorts of mathematical concepts in an engaging and tactile way. You can refer to the display signage here.

 

There were many great questions and conversations going on about mathematical objects at our table - the best part was people's faces lighting up as they played with the models and figured things out. Lots of learning going on, for kids and adults alike!

 

Rata standing at the Mathematical 3D printing tableThe volunteers from the Festival of Women and Girls in Science