Why you may need to reconsider your route selection criterium
You have a job interview in 20 minutes and you are in a hurry to arrive at your application in time. To make matters even more stressful, there are many routes to your destination, but you have no idea which one to select. Luckily, you have access to a navigation system that can help you in your route selection process.
The share bike mystery
How is it possible that bikes are so perfectly spread out that they are available from almost anywhere? Who are these bike fairies that distribute them evenly across the city? Continue reading if you like to find out who they are and what type of mathematics is involved.
Guarding against uncertainty: How Kidney Exchanges can handle unexpected cancellations
Around the world, tens of thousands of people are waiting to receive a kidney transplant. Read how mathematics can help more people receive one.
Reducing ambulance response times
Sandjai Bhulai and Rob van der Mei have been working together for more than twenty years to devise mathematical solutions to a wide array of societal challenges.
Predicting optimal routes in unpredictable networks
How does your navigation system find the fastest route in a road network, if it does not know where traffic jams occur and how long they last?
A multi-objective fight against prostate cancer
Evolutionary algorithms help physicians in the Amsterdam UMC to make treatment plans for prostate cancer patients. A commonly applied treatment against cancer is radiation therapy. In radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, ionizing radiation dose is delivered to the cancer cells. One form of radiotherapy that is applied in the treatment of prostate cancer is brachytherapy.
The golden rule of staffing in contact centers
We can all agree, a no. 1 source of frustration is the endless waiting on hold for a call center agent to pick up the phone. Interestingly, over the last 111 years mathematicians have been working on a vast theory to solve this call center inefficiency.
How uncertainty can make traffic run smoother
In 2014, in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, the average person spend approximately 40 hours in a traffic jam - that is 5 work days! In this article, I will explain how mathematical models with uncertainty help traffic engineers to make decisions that improve traffic.
Traffic lights no longer needed: back to the future
Traffic lights are currently an annoying but inevitable part of traffic. With the introduction of self-driving cars however, can we avoid having to wait for a red light ever again?
Consult a mathematician before you visit Disneyland
You don’t want to wait in a theme park? We hired a mathematician to tell you the tips and tricks!