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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Why bad movies are released at the beginning of the year
Looking to catch a movie this month? Chances are that the movie might disappoint you. In fact, apparently most movies which are considered bad tend to be released in January and February. To find out when bad movies come out, it is important to look when movies that...
Reaching the Unreachable
Have you ever felt like giving up? Wanting to quit something because it seems impossible to reach your goal (for example passing Difference- and Differential Equations)? Of course you have, but don’t give up too fast! Sometimes, it is possible to succeed in what...
Van Gogh – not just a painter
Van Gogh is undoubtedly one of the most famous painters of all time, but perhaps it’s time to consider him a mathematician. Starry Night is one of Van Gogh’s most renowned paintings, depicting just that: a starry night. With a bright moon on the right, and Venus in...
The Ewing Theory
What happens if your team’s best player goes down with an injury, leaves for another team or retires? Your team should be less successful, right? Well, as it turns out, this is not necessarily always true. Sometimes, a team can inexplicably flourish without their...
Why your Dobble cards always match
Dobble: a game played by kids, but still very popular among adults. In the game, you have to draw two random cards and place them face-up on the table between all the players. Then, you have to look for the identical symbol between the two cards. Between every two...
Why do we count in base 10?
What is two plus two? The realist will say four, the computer will say 100, and the cynic will say 5 – but which is correct? The reason we count in base 10 stems from the simplest fact: humans have 10 fingers. Understandable and logical, as this seems to be nature’s...
Rising inflation and the Taylor Rule
I recently noticed that in the last few months, my favorite pack of oatmeal went up in price by 40%, from 50 cents to a whopping 70. Not only that, but the beers at the ‘Negende Cirkel’ have probably increased as well (I have to check it when I am sober, though)....
Getting Featured on TikTok’s ‘For You’ Page
You have probably heard of it: TikTok. The widely popular app that came to existence after the acquisition of the video startup Musical.ly by the Chinese company ByteDance. Today, the app is used by almost 1.3 billion monthly active users, far more than Twitter and...
Why Mathematics is a Language
Mathematics is considered the heart of the beta-field, whereas languages are by definition alpha. One could say, therefore, that mathematics and language are direct opposites. Yet, mathematics is sometimes called the language of science and considering the definition...
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