Mathematics for smart travel by train
Many people use ticketing apps like EasyRide or Fairtiq for their public transport journeys. Silvia Steila uses her mathematical knowledge to ensure that the app always calculates the travel costs correctly.
Over a million people use the SBB EasyRide app, and the best price has to be calculated for every journey. The computers in the SBB offices have their work cut out for them. To ensure that the calculations are always correct, 34-year-old mathematician and data scientist Silvia Steila is among those working in the background.
Over a million people use the SBB EasyRide app, and the best price has to be calculated for every journey. The computers in the SBB offices have their work cut out for them. To ensure that the calculations are always correct, 34-year-old mathematician and data scientist Silvia Steila is among those working in the background.
Silvia grew up in Turin as the daughter of a teacher and an electrical engineer, together with three older siblings. In her native city, she studied mathematics and earned a doctorate in computer science. "During my PhD at the University of Turin and especially during a semester at Queen Mary University in London, I realised that I was fascinated by questions about the foundations of mathematics and computer science," Silvia says.
The scientist joined Prof. Gerhard Jäger's logic and theory group at the University of Bern as a postdoc. She would then have had the opportunity to continue her academic career abroad, but she felt so comfortable in Switzerland that she didn't want to move away. So Steila switched to industry, first to the software company Fabasoft Switzerland, then to SBB in 2019. In her adopted home of Bern, she now works as a 'product owner' in post-price ticketing. "I love this job," says the SBB employee.
Another passion of Silvia Steila's is the mountains. In her free time, she likes to climb peaks in the Bernese Oberland or in the Valais. The highest point she has climbed so far is the Barrhorn at 3610 metres. From there she brought back a stone that she wears on a ribbon around her neck.
Author: Bendikt Vogel
Some personal questions for Silvia Steila:
Where would you like to live?
In Switzerland
Your favourite hero/s in reality?
Paul Erdős
What qualities do you value most in a woman?
Ability to learn
What qualities do you value most in a man?
Ability to learn
Their favourite thing to do?
Hiking
Who or what would you like to be?
Mountain guide
Your favourite flower?
Edelweiss
Your favourite bird?
Eagle
Which reform do you admire the most?
Gödel's incompleteness theorem
What natural gift would you like to possess?
Flying
How would you like to die?
...rather later
Your motto?
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not?" Dr. Seuss, The Lorax