A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. Mathematical models are used not only in the research and engineering disciplines, but also in the curriculum of social sciences. A model may help to explain a system in a better way to investigate the effects of different components and to make predictions about behaviour. Mathematical models are usuall...

This paper presents a simple dynamic model dealing with the management of a marine renewable resource. But instead of studying the ecological and economic interactions in terms of equilibrium or optimal control, we pay much attention to the viability of the system or, in a symmetric way, to crisis situations. These viability/crisis situations are defined by a set of economic and biological stat...

The design of sensor networks featuring minimum cost, while satisfying constraints of redundancy only, is examined. For this purpose, the concept of degree of redundancy for measurements and degree of obser®ability for unmeasured ®ariables are merged into one single property, the degree of estimability of a ®ariable. In addition, the concept of estimation efficiency is introduced. Based on thes...

Computers can be used to conduct experiments that would otherwise be difficult in the lab, if not impossible. An example is the study of the role specific atoms play at different stages in a chemical reaction. An intuitive approach would be to scale up processes at the atomic level to create simulations of large molecules and their reactions. Despite advances in computer power this is not possi...

This article demonstrates how newly available technology suggests to completely rethink how key concepts of (vector-) calculus are introduced. We consider this a particularly dramatic show-case, which also raises the question whether similarly radical rethinking applies to other areas throughout the mathematics curriculum. The new approach makes fairly advanced mathematical concepts accessible ...