Professor of FMIPA UI Reveals the Importance of Mathematics in Facing the Era of Society 5.0

In a scientific speech entitled "Graph Labeling, Pattern Diversity in Mathematics", Prof. Dra. Kiki Ariyanti Sugeng, M.Sc. said that the key to 20th century technology is closely related to the collection, processing, and distribution of information. In the 21st century life known as the era of society 5.0 today, humans are very dependent on communication networks. All processes of information technology advancement are strongly supported by mathematics. On the other hand, the digitalization of processes in business and education as well as other things in organizations have been widely applied in the era of society 5.0. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the security of digital documents in storage and in delivery. One of the data security algorithms that uses mathematical concepts is the RSA Algorithm (Rivest, Shamir, Addleman).

He further said that the sender chooses two pairs of prime numbers ? and ? which are large enough, and uses both prime numbers to become a number ?=??. The process of multiplying ? and ? into ?, will be very easy, but factoring into and is still very difficult and has not been solved until now. Based on this simple mathematical concept, RSA cryptography has proven to be very secure, since it was discovered in 1977 and can still be used today.

In developing mathematics, Prof. Kiki said that usually a classification will be carried out, namely theoretical mathematics and applied mathematics. In general, applied mathematics is developed based on real-life problems that need to be solved, so that the application is already known. Meanwhile, theoretical mathematics arises because of the desire to know the structure and properties of various objects in mathematics.

Basically, studying mathematics is observing patterns, so mathematics is also sometimes referred to as the science of patterns. From the patterns obtained, they can be abstracted into mathematical concepts.

Simple diagrams that are now referred to as graphs, or networks for researchers in computer science and engineering, can model various everyday events. The simplest representation is a graph that shows a road map, where points represent cities, and arcs (lines in the diagram) represent roads connecting the two cities.

"From now on, points will be called nodes and lines will be called arcs. Graphs can be applied to various fields. One that is inherent in our daily lives is the use of Google Maps, which works based on finding the shortest path in a graph," said Prof. Ki

He added that one of the research fields in graph theory is graph labeling. Graph labeling is the assignment of labels to graph elements that can be nodes, arcs, and faces, or perhaps a combination of them, of a graph. The labels given are usually integers, although there are also labels that use rational number labels.

If the label can represent color, then the problem is called graph coloring. The most interesting thing in labeling research is that by adding or subtracting several nodes or arcs, it often gives a very different pattern.

Sensitivity in seeing patterns emphasized in studying mathematics is expected to enable all parties to see more clearly the problems they face. Mathematics, including graph labeling, not only teaches things that have been discovered in the past, but can also invite students to find a pattern or something new that has never been discovered before. This is the core of research, the scale of which can be from simple to more complex.

"As I explained at the beginning, new concepts can start from simple things. It depends on us, whether the discovery or thought and simple questions can be developed. So that the teaching of mathematics and the love of mathematics need to be strengthened. This responsibility is also a shared responsibility, including those of us who are lecturers at universities," said Prof. Kiki.

For his research, Wednesday morning (9/8/2023), Prof. Kiki was inaugurated as Professor in the Field of Graph Science and Combinatorics, FMIPA UI by the Chancellor of UI, Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D., at the University of Indonesia Convention Center Building, Depok. The ceremony was broadcast live on the University of Indonesia YouTube channel and UI Teve.

The inauguration was also attended by the Chairperson of the UI Board of Trustees Dr. (HC) Noni Purnomo, B.Eng., MBA.; Managing Director of Sinarmas / Chairperson of the UI Board of Trustees for the 2019-2023 Period Saleh Husin, S.E., M.Sc.; Founder of the Indonesian World Record Museum (MURI) and Jaya Suprana School of Performing Arts Prof. HC. Jaya Suprana; and Chairperson of the Andalas University Academic Senate Prof. Dr. Syafrizal Sy.

Prof. Kiki completed his Bachelor of Mathematics education at FMIPA UI in 1985 and in 1987 he successfully obtained a Masters in Mathematics at the Bandung Institute of Technology. Then Prof. Kiki completed her doctoral education at the University of Ballarat (Federal Univ), Australia in 2006. Some of her scientific works are entitled, Modular Irregularity Strength on Some Flower Graphs (2023); Two Types of Irregular Labelling on Dodecahedral Modified Generalization Graph (2023); Distance-Local Rainbow Connection Number (2022); and Uncertain Hypergraphs: A Conceptual Framework and Some Topological Characteristics Indexes (2022).

News source : https://sci.ui.ac.id/