Topics
Does 1 in 3 Econometricians Become a Millionaire?
If you are a student in the discipline called Econometrics then you must have heard something along the lines of ‘Oh wow, that’s difficult’, followed by ‘I have heard that 1 in every 3 econometrics students will become a millionaire’. While I have since learned to parade the first part of this reaction with a […]
L’Hôpital’s Rule
Some of you may have heard of the name L’Hôpital whilst you were at school, but why was it so important? L’Hôpital’s rule, more pedantically known as “la régle de L’Hôpital”, is a highly useful technique for finding the limit of complicated expressions. To refresh your memory, the explicit definition reads: Where the right hand […]
Infinite Hotel Paradox
Suppose you have a hotel with infinitely many occupied rooms. Now another guest shows up, what would you do? It turns out that you can still accommodate him. In fact, you can actually accommodate a bus of infinitely many guests and even infinite busses of infinitely many guests. However, not any amount of guests can […]
The Sausage Catastrophe
Introduction Contrary to what you might expect, this article is not actually about sausages. It is not even about food at all. Instead, the sausage catastrophe is a mathematical phenomenon that occurs when studying the theory of finite sphere packing. Finite Sphere Packing Imagine that you have a finite number of apples that you want […]
The Fascinating Connection between Math and Philosophy: Unraveling Abstract Reasoning
Introduction Mathematics and philosophy may seem like separate subjects, but they have a special relationship that has shaped our thinking for centuries. Math, with its logic and precision, intersects with philosophy, which explores fundamental questions about existence and knowledge. In this article, we will explore how math and philosophy connect, complement, and enhance each other. […]
Region-Beta Paradox: Why sometimes we are better off when we are worse off.
In life, we often find ourselves caught in a peculiar paradox. We settle for situations that are less than ideal, believing that they could be worse or that they aren’t so bad after all. Oftentimes, we find ourselves in circumstances that are not sufficiently bad enough to inspire change, yet not good enough to […]
The Seven Bridges of Königsberg
Imagine you are taking a stroll around the 18th century Prussian city of Königsberg (currently Kaliningrad, Russia). The river Pregel runs through Königsberg and there are two large islands in this river. The islands are connected to each other and to the mainland by seven bridges. You intend your walk to pass along all seven […]
The Relevance of Econometrics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
With the dawn of the digital age, our ability to gather and process data has increased exponentially, permeating practically every aspect of life. This evolution has amplified the growing significance and relevance of econometrics, a field dedicated to utilizing statistical methods and economic data. Among its many applications, econometrics allows us to quantify (economic) phenomena […]
The Myth of Form in Football
Have you ever won five games in a row and felt like you could win ten more? Or maybe you lost 5 five and you just kept losing after that? Most people that have played sports will recognize this. Being “in form” seems to have a large impact on whether we will win the next […]
Moore’s Law
In the fast-paced world of technology, few concepts have proven to be as influential as Moore’s Law. This observation was originally made by Gordon Moore in 1965, co-founder of Intel, which has guided the exponential growth and progress the digital world has made for over half a century. Back in 1965, Gordon Moore first made […]
Will There Be A Computer-Induced Apocalypse in Fifteen Years?
Over the past couple of decennia, technology has developed quickly. Computers, smartphones, and other digital gadgets are an integral part of our daily lives. Whenever I want to know the current exchange rate of the Euro, how to bake banana bread or Taylor Swift’s current boyfriend, I resort to my technology. My computer seems to […]
What is the best strategy when playing Monopoly?
We have all played Monopoly at least once in our lifetime, the table game that turns best friends into evil competitors and even the most generous person into merciless. Who has never fought to buy a street while playing? How many times have you been accused of stealing money from the bank? Monopoly is one […]
Why you haven’t found love yet – the Math edition
Have you ever wondered how many people are out there for you? How many people tick all your boxes? Many of us are searching for ‘the one’, but haven’t found them yet. We are all searching for love, as feeling loved makes us feel less pressure, less alone, less anxious, more secure, more confident, and […]
Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem
In mathematics, we like proofs. For thousands of years, mathematicians believed that we would always be able to say that a statement is true or false, and we do this by proving it. No one ever questioned whether this was always possible until 1931, when Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel started to investigate, leading him to […]
The Paradox of Choice
The Paradox of Choice is a psychological phenomenon that refers to the idea that having too many choices can actually be detrimental to our well-being and decision-making processes. This paradox was first introduced by psychologist Barry Schwartz in his book “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.” Schwartz argues that while having a variety […]
The Accuracy Paradox
When Charles Darwin was deciding whether or not to propose to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, he had a rather interesting approach. He drew up a list of pros and cons, as pros he listed things like children, companionship, and the charms of music and female chit-chat; and as cons he listed things like terrible loss […]
Pollution Games: Environmental externalities meet Economic analysis
The economic discipline has a long tradition on micro- and macroeconomics which aid the policy debates regarding contemporary issues. These days, besides governments having to deal with rising inflation, increasing wealth inequality or high levels of unemployment, the economics of climate change has been steadily rising to the agenda. However, I will highlight examples of […]
How Differential Equations Save the World
It is widely known that the course Difference- and Differential Equations is one of the most hated courses among students from the Bachelor EOR. This is probably due to the fact that only a small fraction of the students is able to pass the course. However, this should not take away from the fact that […]
Big Mac Index
When somebody from the West travels to Southeast Asia, he cannot help but notice how very low the cost of living is relative to the West. How do we compare prices across countries? The Big Mac index gives us an approximation. Purchasing power parity Purchasing power parity is a measurement used to compare the purchasing […]
Searching for the Unseen: A Journey into the World of Dark Matter
Have you ever wondered what everything in our Universe is made of? The answer may surprise you. Dark matter, a mysterious and elusive substance, makes up about 27% of the universe, while the matter we can see and interact with makes up only 5%. But what exactly is dark matter, and how do we study […]
Choosing prompts wisely: How to use ChatGPT optimally.
The AI industry is evolving rapidly, with major players such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Notion and Google constantly striving to maintain their competitive edge by launching products like Brad, Copilot and Notion AI. Among these, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been a pivotal product that has sparked the widespread adoption of AI technology. For those who are new […]
The Complexities of Satellite insurance
In today’s society, we rely heavily on the vast network of satellites that orbit our planet. From providing GPS navigation to enabling global communications, satellites have truly become an essential part of our daily lives. However, with the increasing number of satellites being launched around the Earth’s orbit, the risk of potential damages has also […]
Are Our Climate Change Prediction Models Reliable?
On Monday, March 20th, the IPCC published a climate report with advice for policymakers. This advice is partly based on computer models, but criticism of these models is growing. To what extent do the assumptions made in these models accurately reflect our society? And do they still hold when making predictions about 2100? Detlef van […]
Beat all your friends at Catan!
Catan: if you’re a board game lover like me, you’ve probably heard of it. If not, then I really recommend taking a look at it. The game has a combination of luck and strategic thinking, and it is different each time you play it, as you can create a different playing board each time. This […]
Is Chat GPT paving the way to a less intelligent society?
By now, everyone’s used ChatGPT to look something up. Whether it was a quick refresher on a topic for class, or a check for any errors in your work, or to write a Sinterklaas poem, ChatGPT was there. At first, many, including my cynical self, were skeptical that ChatGPT would work, and would actually prove […]
Fractals
In 1904, Swedish mathematician Niels Fabian Helge von Koch discovered a curve with finite area but infinite length. Later, one would call these fractals. We start with an equilateral triangle. On each edge, we find the middle third. On the outside of that middle third, we build an equilateral triangle, and then remove the middle […]
Infinite Series
An infinite series is a sum of infinitely many quantities. Series play a very relevant role in calculus and its generalizations such as functional analysis and discrete mathematics. Since summing infinitely many elements is hard to grasp, a better way to describe an infinite series is to consider it as a limiting process of summing […]
The Mandelbrot set: a hypnotising phenomenon
Although you may never have heard of it, you’ve most likely seen it before. It is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful sets in mathematics you will encounter. The set I’m referring to is called the Mandelbrot set. The iterative function (I will later elaborate on the meaning of this) which defines this […]
Past, Current and Future Macroeconomic Models
The Great Recession after the financial crisis gave rise to a lot of criticism of contemporary macroeconomic models. The standard modeling assumptions were severely challenged by scholars and policy makers, as they could not account for frictions in the financial intermediary sector or behavioral aspects of a turbulent economy. In this article, I will walk […]
Pyramid Schemes
In the Netherlands, a famous slogan on TV is ‘Let op: geld lenen kost geld’ (watch out: borrowing money costs money). No money can be earned for free. With a pyramid scheme, however, people seem to defy these laws of finance and make money out of nothing. How does this work? What is a pyramid […]