An interdisciplinary educational path to understand the economic phenomena of a fluid and complex world with mathematics

Soft comput. 2023 May 23:1-11. doi: 10.1007/s00500-023-08377-5. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

In this paper, we describe an activity that involves economics and mathematics. It is included in the planning of orientation paths towards university studies within the Mathematical High School Project and is dedicated to students in the last years of high school. In particular, this research will deal with the issue of solving an economic problem using not only real analysis instruments but also geometrical topics concerning Euclidean geometry and topology. Mathematics becomes a language to understand and explain a real life problem, such as determining the optimal position of an airport, a nuclear reactor and so on. Some activities made use of dynamic geometry software and computer simulations.