Topics
The EU emission deal: a small step into a greener direction
5 years ago, the world united in a way that it had almost never seen before: in Paris, on the 12th of december 2015, 196 countries agreed on tackling climate change and limiting global warming at the end of this age by a max of 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. However, the optimism […]
Should we prohibit fireworks?
Every year during New Year’s Eve a lot of fireworks are being fired. Even though this is a very old tradition and brings many people great joy, it also brings us nuisance, injuries, and damage costs. This year, the government decided to prohibit all fireworks during New Year’s Eve 2020-2021, due to the circumstances around […]
A station wagon full of data tapes vs. the internet
“Since we do not have up-to-date information on your order, we do not know whether or not it has arrived.” You or any of your acquaintances have probably received an email containing such a sentence. Due to the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Friday and Sinterklaas package delivery services had one of its worst […]
Measuring the speed of light
299,792,458 metres per second. That is the speed of light as we concluded ourselves. Even the definition of a metre is based on this. One metre namely is equal to the distance light travels in 1/ 299,792,458 of a second. Even though this sounds like a joke, as it is so straightforward, it is actually […]
Do basketball players have a hot hand?
[latexpage] If you are a basketball fan, you are probably familiar with the term: the hot hand. This is often used when a player is on a scoring streak and it seems likely that he will also score the next point. He is very confident, he feels good, and therefore it seems like his hand […]
Who will conquer the world?
Risk has been one of the most beloved board games since its release more than sixty years ago. With this classic board game, a fun evening with your friends or family can soon turn into an hours-long war where alliances are forged, troops are lost and battles are won. This family game has brought […]
The price of a COVID-free society
While almost the whole world is struggling to get a grip on COVID-19, New Zealand has been held up as an example by many of how to handle the virus outbreak. Due to closing their borders to non-citizens and enforcing a strict lockdown for six weeks, life in New Zealand was able to return […]
Can we statistically estimate homeowners’ propensity to put a property for sale?
The number of transactions in the property market depends on many sectors of the economy. Fundamentals such as demographics, productivity, and income play a significant role in generating volatility in house prices. In general, transactions on the housing market are determined by how quickly houses are sold and at the same time how quickly appear […]
Rethink the way you think about randomness!
Imagine you get the opportunity to flip a coin for only 1 dollar : if it turns up heads, you win 50% and if it turns up tails you lose 40% of your initial bet. Of course we’re all familiar with calculating expected payoffs: since this bet has an expected payoff of 0.5*1.5 + 0.5*0.6=1.05, […]
A look at an economic application of the Lotka-Volterra equations
The Lotka-Volterra model is mostly referred to as the predator-prey model. This model is used to describe lots of commonly encountered ecological processes. One of the more famous ones is the rabbit and the fox model. This is a cyclical relation between the amount of rabbits and foxes. More on this will be explained further […]
Is it mathematically possible for Trump to win the US election?
Running the US election takes many years, billions of dollars, a lot of self-efficacy and most importantly, 270 electoral votes. Last Thursday was the Election Day for the presidential elections of 2020. Joe Biden led the national polls since the start of the year and one day before the election he was still polling 52% […]
Donald Duck and the magic wheel
Donald Duck, the unfortunate duck that we all know and love, has had it. He angrily shouts at Scrooge McDuck: “every single day I’m brushing coins for you, and yet you barely pay me enough to buy food for my own nephews. I demand a raise!” Scrooge responds: “No way! A lazybones like you should […]
Embrace the spook
Scratching noises, soft but certainly close and drawing closer. You wake up and listen to them getting louder. Right in front of your bedroom door, the noise stops. The door handle starts to move down and the door is opening. Startled you reach for the light on your nightstand and turn it on. Movement at […]
Machine learning in financial markets
[latexpage] Data has become extremely valuable to many companies in the world. Huge data centres are being built to cope with the vast amount of it that is being transmitted every single second. Especially with the rise of AI and specifically machine learning, this information can be used to build models that can predict future […]
Do we need medication to cure diseases?
The whole world has been undergoing quite some big changes since the start of the year 2020, all due to the new disease COVID-19. The scientists are in a hurry to find either a preventative vaccine or a curing medicine. However, what if something as harmless as a sugar pill could cure the disease? Now, […]
Do storks deliver babies?
When you were still a little child, you were probably told that all babies were delivered by storks. Later, when you got older, you found out that this idea is total nonsense. However, imagine that you are still in doubt whether this idea is true, and to discover the truth, you want to use your […]
The Birthday Problem
At the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, in 16 out of the 32 teams two players shared the same birthday. Considering each of these selections consisted of 23 players and there are 365 days in a year (excluding February 29), it seems like an enormous coincidence that this was the case for 50 percent […]
A different look at online education
By now, most students will have a lot of experience with attending online lectures and tutorials. It truly has become the new normal. It might therefore also look as if online classes have nothing new or exciting to offer. However, I want to challenge you to take a different look at online education and discover […]
How can a secret stay secret?
The more people know about a secret, the greater the chance it will come out. Sounds logical right? Everyone has experienced what it is like to keep a secret and it is not exceptional that the truth comes out. Actually, secrets are like mini-conspiracy theories, so imagine the impact of how many people know the […]
Four frequently asked questions about Apple’s and Tesla’s stock split
Every now and then, in the news you hear a new term. For me that was the term ‘stock split’. Apple and Tesla both went through a so-called stock split last month, but what does this mean for the shareholders? And what about the companies themselves? In this short article I will try to answer […]
What we can learn from Norway’s prison system
This story begins on the island Bastøy, about 100 kilometres south of Oslo. With men and women happily swimming, barbecuing and sunbathing together, this place may at first glance look like a holiday destination. However, the contrary is true. 115 of the heaviest criminals are here to undergo the last years of their prison punishment. […]
The secret recipe for making friends
It is the spring of 2021. A vaccine for Covid-19 has been distributed and life is getting back to normal. The weather is improving and it is the so-called first ‘Rokjesdag’. The perfect day to hit the terrace with your friends. You are enjoying a drink with your friends, while reminiscing all the good times […]
Mathematical impossibilities
‘Nothing is impossible’ is one of the most used phrases to convince people that they can accomplish anything, no matter how hard you have to work for it. But to what extent is this phrase actually true? The word impossible is something that a lot of people already have big trouble with getting their head […]
Diversity a threat to feminism?
Is multiculturalism bad for women? That is the title of liberal philosopher and feminist Suzan Moller Okin’s plea about the incompatibility of feminism and multiculturalism. Over the past few decades multiculturalism has always sparked a lot of debates and unleashed a lot of passions in society. And during the past years, feminists have also taken […]
Never lose ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ again
We all suffer from it from time to time. You have just had a quite big meal with your friends and the last thing you would like to do is wash the dishes. To decide who will do the terrible job, you play a game of ‘Rock, paper, scissors’. However, how great would it be […]
Why smart econometricians say stupid things
A lot of different opinions circulate through society about the ongoing corona crisis. One thinks that the government imposed ridiculous measures, another believes that the government is being far too lenient and maybe you feel that it is fine this way. Even among researchers, there is still a lot of dissension. Where does this radical […]
STOP ONLINE EXAMS!
Due to fast spread of COVID-19 the whole world has turned upside down in an instant. The corona virus already had many consequences. Many countries have been in complete lockdown, schools were closed down and leaving the house was only allowed to get necessary supplies like groceries and medicine. Since the schools and universities have […]
Mathematical magic
[latexpage] Many card tricks in this world involve some fancy hand movements. However, there are also many tricks that involve some mathematics. During these very busy times with exams, I present some card tricks to get your mind off studying and challenge your brain in a whole different way. 52 factorial The first mind-boggling […]
Marktwerking in de zorg
Nederland is aan het vergrijzen. De babyboomgeneratie is momenteel rond de zeventig jaar oud, een leeftijd waarop veel ouderen meer zorg nodig hebben. Daarnaast is in tien jaar de levensverwachting met bijna twee jaar toegenomen. Een gevolg van deze ontwikkelingen is dat de uitgaven aan gezondheidszorg en welzijn toenemen. Voor 2006 was er een betaalbare […]
What is true randomness?
The shuffle function on Spotify is an easy way to listen to music without having to pick some numbers. However, once in a while we all seem to recognize patterns in the numbers that we listen to. The shuffle function does not seem to be so random at all, so are these numbers truly randomly […]