This article discusses a fun puzzle that illustrates a beautiful open problem in this area: queueing theorists are trying to figure out how the structure of a network impacts its ability to distribute work among the nodes.
What if I tell you that long queues in airports are also caused by the impatient passengers that arrive too far in advance at the airport? Today, we will analyze how the organization of the security check queue affects the waiting time of passengers.
We might not be fully aware of it, but we all use wireless communication everyday in many familiar situations, such as when we connect our laptop to the local Wi-Fi network, when we use navigation apps to orientate ourselves while driving, or when we send a message to a friend using our smartphones. It has become so natural for the world we live in, that we often take it for granted and have no idea of how it works.
In February 2014, a big bank in the Netherlands suffered from an internet banking malfunction which led many costumers to accidentally perform duplicate bank transfers.
