Albert Pierik
How Not to Prove Goldbach’s Conjecture
Some mathematical statements are deceptively simple. Goldbach's conjecture is one of those statements. The story starts on the 7th of June 1742 when mathematician Christian Goldbach wrote a letter to his friend Leonhard Euler that he couldn't prove the following conjecture: "Every even number greater than two is the sum of two primes." Euler wrote back that he was certain the statement holds true but was unable to verify it mathematically. Nearly three centuries later, no one has been able to prove the statement.
Is the F1 championship already decided after two races?
Formula 1 seasons last more than twenty races, but championship battles often are predictable surprisingly early. After only two races, fans already speculate about who will become world champion. But how much information do the first races actually contain?
Why Economists Disagree Even When Looking at the Same Data
Economists often appear in public debates, disagreeing on the same topic as if they are speaking two completely different languages. One study claims inflation is driven by excess demand, another points to supply shocks. Some economists argue that higher interest rates slow the economy, while others suggest they merely follow economic downturns rather than cause them. Perhaps the most puzzling is that these disagreements continue when economists analyse the same data. The numbers are identical, the time periods overlap, yet the conclusions still differ. How can experts trained in the same field reach such different answers from the same evidence?
Why do we count in tens and not twelves?
Have you ever wondered why we use only ten digits and the decimal system and not something else? The number twelve once was a big contender. Look at the number of eggs in a dozen, the hours on a clock, months in a year and even the number of courses in a year.