How do fitness trackers work and what does that have to do with math?

Fitness trackers are very popular nowadays. They are used as an app on the mobile phone, on the Smartwatch or integrated into a fitness wristband. These apps can be used to record your own fitness activity and, depending on the device, to measure the number of steps you have taken, your heart rate, the distance you have covered and your speed. But how do these fitness japs work? And what does that have to do with maths?

Using simple Julia codes, students discover the mathematical basics of activities (walking, running, sprinting) and the mathematical tools for evaluating such activities - Fourier analysis. Students will record their own activity data and use mathematical modeling to develop a model to measure the steps they have taken. All that is required is prior knowledge of the functions.

Duration: from 5 hours (incl. lunch break)
Contents: Function equations, trigonometric functions
Previous knowledge: concept of function
Participants: Mathematics courses from grade 9 onwards
Created by: Marcel Marnitz, Thomas Camminady
Registration: Appointments can be made individually by e-mail at KIT or RWTH Aachen University.

Source of the image: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/smartwatch-gadget-technologie-smart-828786/

Material

The interactive learning material can be accessed via the online platform workshops.cammp.online. How to create an account on the platform and use the
material is explained in this video. In addition, accompanying material is provided for teachers on the online platform, which can be accessed via a password that can be requested by e-mail.

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