In this theme
Decisions under uncertainty
Mathematical models describe a real-life phenomenon, using mathematical language. The model will not exactly be like the reality, but can be used to learn from and help us make decisions.
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A peek into decision making in service systems•
March 5 2024, by Shreehari Anand BodasOften due to large waiting times customers abandon shops (online or physical), and owners don't realize that they have left. We call this a loss of opportunity. This is an important concept in queueing theory.Read article - Article
From building a family tree to discovering the suspect of a crime•
January 5 2024, by Marre CorverBetween 1973 and 1986 multiple rapes and murders were committed in the state of California. Years later the idea was raised that these crimes might be connected. But traditional DNA analysis from the samples found at the crime scenes, could not identify the culprit.Read article - Article
Trust and other wonderful mistakes humans make•
December 22 2023, by Ben MeylahnTrust is required when we buy a used car from a personal connection or via-via. When we vote for a politician we trust that they will act in our favour. In this article we will explore how Game Theory is used in attempts to model trust and cooperation.Read article - Article
Distributing work in a network of servers•
December 4 2023This 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.Read article - Article
Why scientists keep failing at stopping COVID and how mathematicians can help.••
September 21 2023, by Marta MilewskaDespite our level of development, the pandemic has been continuously causing us struggles for two years. This gives rise to an obvious question: How can contemporary science not deal with a flu-like virus?Read article