The director of Gerjak BV, a tent-producing company from the province of Gelderland, has a problem with the shape of awnings for caravans. Sketches on the blackboard point to the shortcoming. A caravan has rounded corners, the front of the awning is more square-shaped. The director wants to know what the optimal shape of the tent should be, without wrinkles in the fabric or deviations from the traditional, triangular shape.
'Can't you fix the tent to caravan with hooks', one of the mathematicians wonders during the explanation of the problem. 'No, the customer does not want that', the director says. 'Nothing can be fixed to the caravan. The caravan is holy', he explains. Rough sketches appear on the notepads of the 35 mathematicians. Who among them will solve the problem is not clear.
The participants do not need to pin themselves down on one company, the organiser from TW Frits van Beckum makes clear. 'Someone could be thinking about tents in the morning and contemplating problems of Shell or KPN in the afternoon.'
The Study Group is originally a British initiative. Starting in the sixties, people from industry and universities come together annually in the so-called Oxford Weeks. It is the third time that the working group Industrial and Applied Mathematics in co-operation with the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry organises the week in the Netherlands.
Van Beckum expects seven solutions to be ready by Friday. 'The mathematicians will at any rate be able to show the company in where they might look for a solution. Experience shows that the clients will be ecstatic with the solutions brought forward.'
