Categorie: Overig
De ‘wiskundeknobbel’: een wel of niet bestaand fenomeen?
“Ik haal toch geen voldoende op wiskunde, ik heb namelijk echt totaal geen wiskundeknobbel”: een van de uitspraken die leerlingen bij wie wiskunde niet spontaan komt aanwaaien maar al te vaak doen. Ze denken, net zoals vele andere mensen, dat je aanleg moet hebben voor wiskunde om het goed te begrijpen en dus om voldoendes te halen. Maar is deze uitspraak wel gerechtvaardigd? Bestaat deze ‘wiskundeknobbel’, zoals het vaak in de volksmond wordt genoemd, daadwerkelijk, of kan iedereen wiskunde begrijpen en studeren met puur hard werken en de juiste motivatie? Dit wilden Duitse onderzoekers ook […]
3 minuten
How to choose wisely
So many choices, so little time. In today’s world, everyone struggles sometimes to make a choice quickly, in fear of not picking the best one. Often the amount of options is overwhelming and the paradox of choice strikes us multiple times a day. What if there was a method that helped you pick a movie to watch or a spot to park your car? Luckily, such a method exists and it is easily explained by the following illustration: In front of you are 100 envelopes, each containing an unknown amount of cash. You are allowed […]
3 minuten
Japanse snufjes
Japan ken je waarschijnlijk als het land van de sushi en de mondkapjes. Het land heeft echter veel meer specifieke kenmerken dan alleen deze twee. Zelf kwam ik hier een paar weken geleden achter toen ik naar Japan vertrok voor drie weken. Voor mij was dit een enorm inspirerende reis, aangezien Japan echt een uniek land is. In dit artikel zal ik jullie wat vertellen over enkele gekke Japanse snufjes die mij opvielen. – Esther Valkonet
3 minuten
Not so cheap tricks
Since January first 2019 the VAT has been raised by the Dutch government from 6% to 9%. This increase gave shop owners a choice: increase prices to pass the costs on to the customer or keep the prices put to have the opportunity to obtain competitive advantages. Over the course of three months more and more companies increased their prices. However, in most cases this increase was more than the 3 percentage point caused by the rise of the VAT. This could make you wonder what caused the other part of the price increase. In […]
3 minuten
Rebus of Econometrics meme
Some students are already done with the exams and others are still studying to get as many ECTS as possible (in other words, surviving in the university library). In both situations it is nice to solve a little puzzle and to use your brain for something else than only numbers. Since I enjoy the econometric memes a lot, I made a rebus of an econometric meme. I hope you can solve the rebus and will enjoy the meme. If so, you can contact me and I am happy to share more great econometric memes with […]
1 minuut
Raadsel: gevangen op een eiland
Op een afgelegen eiland leven tweehonderd gevangenen. Honderd van hen hebben blauwe ogen, honderd hebben bruine ogen. De gevangenen hebben geen kennis van deze verdeling, noch van hun eigen oogkleur. Verder leeft er een bewaker op het eiland, die de gevangenen nauwlettend in de gaten houdt. Dat is wel nodig, want de gevangenen kunnen allemaal perfect logisch nadenken. Ze mogen van de bewaker op geen enkele manier met elkaar communiceren. Ze krijgen echter een kans om het eiland te verlaten; Zo vertelt de bewaker, welke zelf groene ogen heeft: “Vertel mij welke kleur ogen je hebt, en […]
2 minuten
Founder talks: Jeroen Westerbeek
Last year they sold almost 10,000 watches, they planted one tree for each watch sold and next to that one of the owners was also still studying. This is the story of the company called WoodWatch, of which one of the founders, Jeroen Westerbeek, studied econometrics in Groningen. In this article I will tell you about him, about his company, and how he combines this with econometrics. How it started The company WoodWatch was founded in 2013 by three friends who were all studying at the University of Groningen. One of them is Jeroen […]
4 minuten
Leugens
“Wat een mooie tekening kind!”, “Schat je ziet er prachtig uit”, “Alles gaat goed met me” of “Tentamen gehaald met een 7”. Zo nu en dan een beetje overdrijven of een leugentje om bestwil daar is niemand echt vies van. In elke taal, in elk land, bij elke cultuur, of je je nou als man of vrouw of iets daartussenin identificeert, iedereen liegt. Uit onderzoek van de Universiteit van Michigan blijkt dat de meeste mensen geen gesprek van tien minuten kunnen voeren zonder een leugen te vertellen. Vaak zijn deze leugens van een altruïstische aard […]
A world without money: happiness or affliction?
Almost every person in the world has thought at least once about the idea of a world without money. But since there does not truly exist a place where money is non-existent, it is very hard to imagine how a world without money would look like. How would you feel when we had a world without money? Would it make me happy, or would it feel like I live in one big communist world where everyone is equal? Would I feel more free without the burden of having to earn money, or would I wish […]
4 minuten
ARTificial intelligence
A recent study has shown that in coming years global labour markets will undergo major transformations. This will be due to the so called “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, which is caused by companies looking into the possibilities of machines and algorithms. The study prognosticates that in 2022, 42 percent of all jobs will be performed by machines, while at this moment this percentage is 29. Jobs that are most likely to disappear are those consisting mainly of paperwork and those of the less educated. The study states that jobs based on human skills such as creativity […]
8 minuten
Names in a box
This is one of the most difficult riddles I have ever encountered. It does not require a lot of mathematical skills, but you certainly have to have some intuition in solving riddles. This riddle is called “The 100 prisoners problem”. Do you have what it takes to solve this challenge? Problem 100 prisoners are given the chance to be released from prison. Their names will be put in 100 different labelled wooden boxes. These boxes are labelled with the names of the prisoners, but the name in the box is never the same as the […]
3 minuten
Productiever studeren
Exams… the period leading up to the exams is one in which time seems to fly by even though the work never seems to be finished. Now there are only a few days left before the exams and the amount of things you still need to do is much higher that you would have hoped. Because of this, it is important to be very productive in these last days. But how can you be more productive? And how does your productivity increase, biologically speaking? – Esther Valkonet
3 minuten