Topics
Chess and Mathematics: The Knight's Tour Problem
Chess and mathematics share deep connections, particularly in logic, strategy, and problem-solving. Many chess players have studied mathematical problems arising from the game. One famous example is the Knight’s Tour Problem—a pathfinding puzzle that dates back to 840 AD.
How Statistics Empower Players (but the house still wins)
Casinos have long tempted gamblers with the promise of making a quick fortune while playing stirring games. However, behind the spinning wheels and flashing lights is a whole world governed by statistics and probability. Every casino game is designed to ensure that, in the long run, the house wins. Still, throughout history, individuals have been attempting to use mathematics and probability to beat casinos. While some of these techniques can manipulate short-term probabilities in the favor of the player, the nature of statistics involved in gambling, ensures the casino holds its advantage.
Why We Keep Eating Chips
Unhealthy, ultra-processed food: most of us keep eating and buying it, despite knowing that it is not good for us. For some products, the urge to eat is so strong that once the bag is open, it will be empty in a short time. For me, this is the case with chips. Once the bag is open, the sad realization that I’ve eaten everything follows quickly. But what makes this ultra-processed food so irresistible?
Meet the 36th VESTING Board!
On Monday the 6th of January, the 36th board of VESTING was announced. Below, each of them has written a short introduction about themselves.
Does True Randomness Exist?
Have you ever wondered what randomness is? According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, randomness is the fact of being done, chosen, etc. without somebody deciding in advance what is going to happen, or without any regular pattern. Hence, it is a nondeterministic event (an event that can not be directly determined by another event). In [...]
ORTEC: We are a family of smart explorative minds
We are everywhere around you, probably without you even realizing it. Among other things, we help our logistics customers to efficiently plan their routes and therefore reduce their CO₂ footprint; we help academic hospitals to efficiently plan their workforce and their schedule; we help our services customers to plan their visits to their [...]
Möbius Strip: The Strangest Shape
A Möbius Strip is a one-sided surface that can be constructed by taking a rectangular strip of paper, twisting it once and joining the ends of the strip. The result is a wonky shaped ring. This ring, discovered by Johann Benedict Listing and August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858, has a number of interesting properties. Most notably, a Möbius Strip [...]
The Story of Moneyball: A Baseball Movie About Statistics
A movie about statistics, return on investments, and market inefficiencies does not sound like a hit movie to most. However, a movie with a box office of over a hundred million dollars, multiple Oscar nominations and numerous awards won does. This is Moneyball, a movie that tells the story of how the Oakland Athletics, led by general manager [...]
The Mathematical Mysteries Behind the Great Pyramid
Being the oldest site among the original Seven Wonders, it is not surprising that the Great Pyramid of Giza attracts more than 14 million tourists a year. Seeing these huge structures in the vast, sandy desert, many of these 14 million tourists do not realize the mathematical precision used to build the pyramids. The pyramids reveal the [...]
The Key Role of Statistics in WW2
Many of the most important statistical theorems have been discovered around the 40s, which is the same time in which World War 2 occurred (1939/1945). This is of course not a coincidence, one of the paradoxes of war is that if on the one hand it takes and impacts millions and millions of lives, on the other hand it leads to new scientific and [...]
Regression Analysis: A Beginner’s Guide
Econometrics, the intersection of economics and statistics, employs sophisticated methods to analyse and quantify relationships within economic systems. One of its fundamental tools is regression analysis, a statistical technique that allows economists tot model and understand the connections between variables. In this article we will unravel some complexities of regression analysis focusing on basis principles […]
Are You Tying Your Shoelaces Wrong?
We tie our shoelaces to ensure that our shoes stay on tight, and we do these by tying a knot. There are different ways to tie your shoelaces, you may have learnt the “around the tree” technique, but somehow, they still always come undone, why? This all has to do with knot theory. If you […]
The Dutch Childcare Benefits Scandal – How Big Data and AI Can Have Disastrous Consequences
Last week, the elections for the Dutch parliament took place. This election came earlier than usual since the cabinet Rutte IV had fallen due to failed negotiations about policy toward asylum seekers. The same political parties formed the previous coalition, Rutte III. This cabinet had also fallen, although this was only two months before the […]
The 100 Prisoner Problem
Imagine if tomorrow you were abducted, and before you knew it, you were trapped in a room with 99 other people who seemed to know nothing more about what was happening than you. You notice that everyone is wearing an orange jumpsuit, which is uniquely numbered. You also notice a door, and you can not […]
Introduction Weekend Impression
Every year VESTING organizes an introduction weekend for the freshmen, including myself. The general theme of this weekend is getting to know your new fellow students. It is also a perfect opportunity to get a glimpse of the new world as a student. This was done by a variety of fun activities during the weekend. […]
The Importance of Statistics in Sport
“In terms of merit, sports have mathematical statistics. That is how you know who the best player is”. (Norm MacDonald) Until thirty/forty years ago people would most likely not believe in this statement, but the situation has changed since the end of the 90s when sports started to take statistics more and more into account. […]
Does 1 in 3 Econometricians Become a Millionaire?
If you are a student in the discipline called Econometrics then you must have heard something along the lines of ‘Oh wow, that’s difficult’, followed by ‘I have heard that 1 in every 3 econometrics students will become a millionaire’. While I have since learned to parade the first part of this reaction with a […]
L’Hôpital’s Rule
Some of you may have heard of the name L’Hôpital whilst you were at school, but why was it so important? L’Hôpital’s rule, more pedantically known as “la régle de L’Hôpital”, is a highly useful technique for finding the limit of complicated expressions. To refresh your memory, the explicit definition reads: Where the right hand […]
Infinite Hotel Paradox
Suppose you have a hotel with infinitely many occupied rooms. Now another guest shows up, what would you do? It turns out that you can still accommodate him. In fact, you can actually accommodate a bus of infinitely many guests and even infinite busses of infinitely many guests. However, not any amount of guests can […]
The Sausage Catastrophe
Introduction Contrary to what you might expect, this article is not actually about sausages. It is not even about food at all. Instead, the sausage catastrophe is a mathematical phenomenon that occurs when studying the theory of finite sphere packing. Finite Sphere Packing Imagine that you have a finite number of apples that you want […]
The Fascinating Connection between Math and Philosophy: Unraveling Abstract Reasoning
Introduction Mathematics and philosophy may seem like separate subjects, but they have a special relationship that has shaped our thinking for centuries. Math, with its logic and precision, intersects with philosophy, which explores fundamental questions about existence and knowledge. In this article, we will explore how math and philosophy connect, complement, and enhance each other. […]
Region-Beta Paradox: Why sometimes we are better off when we are worse off.
In life, we often find ourselves caught in a peculiar paradox. We settle for situations that are less than ideal, believing that they could be worse or that they aren’t so bad after all. Oftentimes, we find ourselves in circumstances that are not sufficiently bad enough to inspire change, yet not good enough to […]
The Seven Bridges of Königsberg
Imagine you are taking a stroll around the 18th century Prussian city of Königsberg (currently Kaliningrad, Russia). The river Pregel runs through Königsberg and there are two large islands in this river. The islands are connected to each other and to the mainland by seven bridges. You intend your walk to pass along all seven […]
The Relevance of Econometrics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
With the dawn of the digital age, our ability to gather and process data has increased exponentially, permeating practically every aspect of life. This evolution has amplified the growing significance and relevance of econometrics, a field dedicated to utilizing statistical methods and economic data. Among its many applications, econometrics allows us to quantify (economic) phenomena […]
The Myth of Form in Football
Have you ever won five games in a row and felt like you could win ten more? Or maybe you lost 5 five and you just kept losing after that? Most people that have played sports will recognize this. Being “in form” seems to have a large impact on whether we will win the next […]
Moore’s Law
In the fast-paced world of technology, few concepts have proven to be as influential as Moore’s Law. This observation was originally made by Gordon Moore in 1965, co-founder of Intel, which has guided the exponential growth and progress the digital world has made for over half a century. Back in 1965, Gordon Moore first made […]
Will There Be A Computer-Induced Apocalypse in Fifteen Years?
Over the past couple of decennia, technology has developed quickly. Computers, smartphones, and other digital gadgets are an integral part of our daily lives. Whenever I want to know the current exchange rate of the Euro, how to bake banana bread or Taylor Swift’s current boyfriend, I resort to my technology. My computer seems to […]
What is the best strategy when playing Monopoly?
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 stealing money from the bank? Monopoly is one […]
Why you haven’t found love yet – the Math edition
Have you ever wondered how many people are out there for you? How many people tick all your boxes? Many of us are searching for ‘the one’, but haven’t found them yet. We are all searching for love, as feeling loved makes us feel less pressure, less alone, less anxious, more secure, more confident, and […]
Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem
In mathematics, we like proofs. For thousands of years, mathematicians believed that we would always be able to say that a statement is true or false, and we do this by proving it. No one ever questioned whether this was always possible until 1931, when Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel started to investigate, leading him to […]