Leandro Slagboom
The portrayal of mathematical genius in cinema
Studying mathematics is an arduous undertaking, testing one's patience while learning new, complex concepts and one’s tolerance for frustration. This is common to all of us, and fortunately so, as it reminds us that we are not alone in this journey. We are however led to believe that there exist some exceptions in our world, some people who possess a certain knack for mathematics. For them, mathematical expressions come as naturally as brushstrokes to an artist. When we talk about these numerical artists, we think of Euler, Gauss, Newton, to name a few giants. While we humble mortals are quite certain of never attaining such intellectual heights as they did, we are capable of appreciating their talents from a content-based perspective thanks to our quantitative background. For the layperson, however, their encounter with the notion of the “mathematical genius” is often shaped by popular culture. But does this mathematician on the big screen correspond to the mathematician in the real world?
The angel and the devil on an infinite chessboard
Imagine a chessboard stretching endlessly in all directions. In this unusual game however, there are only two actors: The angel, who is our hero of the play, and the devil. The angel moves in a manner similar to a chess king, except that the distance he may travel is determined by some fixed power k. For example, an angel with power 3 can on each turn travel 3 squares from its starting location. The devil can move to any square he likes, and in turn burns that same square, making it permanently inaccessible for the angel. Our question is: is it eventually possible for the devil to trap the angel, leaving it with no squares to fly to, or will the angel always be able to escape?
Cliometrics: The science of quantifying (economic) history
We econometricians share the stage of ‘’metrics’’ with a lot of other disciplines. Think of biometrics, which deals with data concerning fingerprints, DNA, face recognition and more. Or even psychometrics, whose aim is to measure psychological features such as intelligence or other personality traits. A well-known personality test is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. But have you ever heard of cliometrics? This science is the application of ‘’metrics’’ to the past.