In the office ofEva Miranda (Reus, 1973), you're welcomed by a sea of ​​rubber duckies of different sizes and outfits; a very curious orange plush toy; and a suspiciously Newtonian plastic apple. In the background, blackboards are covered in mathematical formulas, indecipherable to those outside the field. A professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and a member of the Center for Mathematical Research, she has been distinguished as an ICREA Academia member and has received the most prestigious international awards. Her research focuses on the areas of geometry and topology, the study of shapes, and their interactions with mathematical physics.

When we talk about Pythagoras, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the theorem that bears his name, one of the discoveries this Greek philosopher and mathematician of the late 6th century BC made during his lifetime. But he made quite a few more. He was also the first to relate music to numbers, which led him to identify mathematical patterns in music. So, it's not so strange that these two fields are linked.

Sarah Strong is a mathematician and professor at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education in San Diego, USA. She has published the book Dear MathA collection of letters in which students explain why they hate math and how teachers can work to create more positive experiences. She visited Barcelona to attend STEAMConf Barcelona 2025, held at CosmoCaixa.

The young aspiring mathematician took notes with impeccable care. He knew his German friend would also appreciate it. He didn't know it yet, but that classmate sitting next to him in geometry class would eventually become one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century: Albert Einstein. Sherlock Holmes had John Watson, Don Quixote had Sancho Panza, and Einstein always had Marcel Grossmann by his side, the faithful companion who not only shared his notes but also became a key figure in the development of a theory that would change our understanding of the universe. "Those notes were my salvation," Einstein explained.

"I collapsed trying to do Innovamat problems with my daughter"; "Innovamat makes difficult what used to be easy"; "Students haven't grasped basic concepts and get overwhelmed with addition." These are just some of the thousands of comments made on social media since the publisher's materials were released in 2017. Innovamat began to land in the mathematics classrooms of CataloniaNow, eight years later, the Catalan company's methods are used in more than 800 schools and institutes in Catalonia—approximately a third of the centers—reaching almost 200,000 students in primary and secondary education. The growth of the mathematics teaching publisher has not been limited to Catalonia; it has also reached 2,600 educational centers in nine different countries, exceeding half a million students worldwide. Furthermore, in recent days Innovamat has entered the United States and has become one of fifteen publishers—Innovamat is the only one not based in the US—authorized by the California government for use in classrooms in that state's schools and institutes.

An old and dear friend, Claudi Alsina, has passed away. We met in the mid-1970s in Berkeley. I was teaching, and he, a young mathematics professor at the architecture school, was visiting. We talked about everything, but especially about two subjects that marked his professional and civic life: mathematics and the university. So much so that, fifty years later, he has left us, on the one hand, some forty books on mathematics, both technical monographs—published in English, and some highly awarded—and popular science works—a field in which he had a very special talent and in which he displayed his characteristic humor. I know that in the last week of his life, helped by his beloved Carme and Victoria, he was proofreading galleys of his next—I don't want to say last—book.

Today the world of mathematics and its teaching has suffered a devastating blow. The death of Claudi Alsina leaves an immense void, one that is difficult to fill.

Claudi Alsina Català, professor of mathematics and renowned science communicator, passed away this Sunday at the age of 73. Alsina had received the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2014 in recognition of his academic career and his contribution to science communication in Catalonia. He held a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Barcelona and served as a professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia until his retirement in 2016. Throughout his career, he published more than fifty books and hundreds of articles, specializing in functional equations, geometry, and education. He also held important institutional positions, such as Secretary General of the Inter-University Council of Catalonia and Director General of Universities, and coordinated the university entrance exams in Catalonia between 2000 and 2002. His last published book was co-authored with Anton Aubanell and Carme Burgués and is titled Go for it! Spark an interest in learning mathematics.

Carles Granell is a primary school teacher at the Sant Lluís School in the Prosperidad neighborhood of Barcelona and a professor of mathematics education at the University of Barcelona. He is also a member of the Federation of Mathematics Education Entities of Catalonia (FEEMCAT), which organized the Catalan Congress on Mathematics Education in Lleida last July, where hundreds of teachers analyzed the state of mathematics and how its learning could be improved.

Mathematics and physics, aerospace and computer engineering, and medical degrees continue to lead the ranking of the highest university entrance exams in Catalonia for another year. The highest grade of all was once again that of the simultaneous degree in mathematics and physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), which rose to 13.370 points out of a total of 14. The same degree, from the University of Barcelona (UB), followed closely behind, with a entrance exam grade of 13.170 points. These degrees offer very few places (20 at two different universities, 40 in total), which is why access to them is so difficult.

Once again, Catalan students are performing poorly in core subject knowledge in basic skills tests. The Minister of Education had already put the bandage on the wound before it was even healed. But the wound is still there: the desired level is not being reached in math, English, and science, especially in the fourth year of compulsory secondary education, the final year of the compulsory secondary education cycle, but also in the sixth year of primary school, where math results have been the lowest ever recorded. We still can't move forward. In fact, the problem has been clearly identified for years; it is entrenched or even worsening. We are failing to recover. Surely the responsibilities are widely distributed: in the classroom, in families, in social values, in the administration, in inequalities... Solutions? They must also be sought in all these areas.

When Euclid introduced his people Items, one of the great intellectual constructions of humanity, to Ptolemy I, King of Egypt, the response he received was: "Are there no smoother roads to geometry?" "No, there are no royal roads to mathematics," Euclid retorted.

"My uncle is an engineer, and since I was little, he encouraged me to love mathematics. Now I'd like to pass on this passion," explains Julia. Three other teenagers are sitting next to her. "I've always loved it when you're faced with a problem and don't know where to start, and then you end up seeing that it has a logical solution. It's really nice to see how it turns out," says Claudia enthusiastically. Their passion for mathematics has united fifty girls, all secondary school students, with a common goal: to pass on their fascination with science to the little ones, just as those close to them had passed it on to them.

A good friend, a teacher, sent me one of the math questions from the basic skills tests. These tests are given in the fourth year of compulsory secondary education to assess whether students have "achieved" the minimum knowledge required for their age. One of the questions begins with this statement: "Mario is 7 years old. On Saturday at 9:00 p.m., his parents detected that he had a fever. Since then, they have taken his temperature several times. The following graph shows the times they did so and the temperature obtained."

166,000 students in 6th grade of primary school and 4th year of secondary school will be taking the exams in the next few days basic skills tests to check the level of knowledge in Catalan schools. Along with the PISA tests, they are the main indicator we have. They assess languages (Catalan, Spanish, and English), mathematics, and science and technology content. After the post-pandemic declines, there was a slight recovery in 2022, except for Catalan, which has seen three consecutive years of decline and is at its lowest level since 2012. If the negative trend affecting it were to be confirmed this year, Catalan would fail for the first time. However, the worst position is that of mathematics, which has not passed the minimum required threshold for four years, although it has seen an improvement for two.

Masaki Kashiwara (1947) became a mathematician at an early age. His passion for algebra came to him at school with a problem he had to solve: he had to determine how many cranes and turtles were inside a box, given the total number of heads and legs. Finding the answer wasn't enough, though; he generalized a method for solving the mystery: at 23, he developed D-module theory, a key tool for studying differential equations. Now, at 78 years old and after a brilliant career, he has become the first Japanese—and the second Asian—to receive the Abel Prize in mathematics, considered the Nobel Prize in mathematics and endowed with 660,000 euros.

"Mathematics is very creative, it contains great beauty," says Xavier Ros-Oton (Barcelona, ​​​​1988) with a frank smile. Nothing to do, he insists, with what we learn as children at school: calculus, calculus, calculus, equations, formulas, algorithms that you don't know what they're for... That's why, although he did very well as a child and had a mother who taught precisely this subject, the truth is that it didn't appeal to him too much.

Almost always when you talk to one of the students who has obtained the best grade in the science entrance exam or who has excelled in high school or university, at some point in the conversation the word ends up appearing kangaroo. Also, when math teachers are asked how they've motivated their students, the response often includes a phrase: "There are tests that are given every year..." It's impossible to separate the educational success of many brilliant Catalan students from the Cangur tests. It's an international math competition that celebrates its thirtieth edition in Catalonia this Thursday, with more than 100,000 students registered. Hundreds of schools, institutes, and even universities collaborate, providing space for "the competition for the greats."