June the 29th, 2022 - Well known Croatian mathematician Toni Milun has explained what's going on with the current inflation crisis, and offered advice to those wondering how they can improve their situations, stating that we could all be a little bit more financially literate.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian mathematician Toni Milun explained the meaning of inflation in real life, practical terms, and discussed just how much it affects the purchasing power of regular people and how we might better cope with all this, as reported by N1.

In a video, Croatian mathematician Toni Milun went into more depth about the practical side of inflation which is affecting each and every one of us in some way or another.

"When compared to last year, inflation is higher than 10 percent. This means that people who earned a monethly salary of 7,000 kuna last year, and still do today, can buy on average what they could last year for 6,300 kuna now. Inflation doesn't really mean the same thing for everyone.

People who use products which have been more affected by inflation, things which have become more expensive, such as fuel for a person who drives often, have more issues with ongoing inflation than someone who uses public transport that hasn't risen in price. If we want our purchasing power to remain the same, then our wages should increase by these 10 percent compared to last year. If they haven't grown by 10 percent, then we're a little poorer,'' explained Milun.

He also referred to the movement of interest rates. ''As for the interest rates, if a person has a variable interest rate, you need to check what it's tied to. I'm talking about the period from next month onwards. Everyone with an NRS interest rate - don't worry, you can relax for now. But if it’s Euribor, then make sure you look at the date it changes because new annuities arrive in July, it may be higher especially if you have a home loan you recently took out. It can be a few hundred kuna higher. Go to the bank, try to negotiate better terms,'' Croatian mathematician Toni Milun warned.

However, Milun is convinced that we will overcome these challenging times.

"We can all become more financially literate. Educate yourself, because doing that now has become very important ", Milun advised.

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May 21, 2021 - With math seeing more and more appreciation, it's still, quite rightfully, a challenging discipline that not everyone can comprehend. Quality lessons, additional instructions, and motivated lecturers and teachers are the obvious recipe to both help those who struggle with math and those who are good at it to achieve their best possible potential.

However, the coronavirus pandemic is still present and is still causing difficulties in the Croatian education system, forcing pupils and professors to switch from online to live lectures or a mix of the two, putting additional pressure on sharing knowledge on any imaginable subject. With math being a discipline that requires lots of practice and explanations, it's perhaps the subject which has suffered the most.

Still, as Srednja.hr reports, a great potential solution to this issue appeared back in October 2020 when Robert Pavlik started E-Matematika, a website, for online math instructions.

''The site is focused on all students that need help with math, whether it's about fixing a bad grade or preparing for an exam“, writes Srednja.hr.

E-Matematika currently offers 45 minutes of lessons, offering solved mathematical tasks with the procedure detailed, as well as a video explanation.

These instructions are paid for simply through the ''order instructions''check-out process, and it's all quite automated. However, phone and videocalls for arranging instructions are an option for the safety of kids so that parents can see with whom they'll be communicating. Reliable platforms for communication such as Zoom, Google Meet, and MS Teams are also used, and two conditions need to be satisfied for the instructions to work: easy platform access for the student and an uninterrupted video connection. Each instruction ends with the service sending a questionnaire to the students to see how happy they are with the whole experience, as well as a receipt. The questionnaire builds the personal rating of the instructor.

There are four levels of instructions: lower elementary classes, higher elementary classes, high schools, and faculties, which offer more effective services as some instructors prefer to work with teens, and others are specialised working with younger kids. The site so far boasts 100 instructors, and in addition to maths, Croatian pupils can also find instructions from the subjects of physics and chemistry. Srednja.hr adds that students from field-related faculties recognised the work of E-Matematika and want to participate.

The site welcomes anyone interested to apply to become the next instructor, as long as they satisfy the following conditions: two years of instructing experience as a minimum, excellent communication skills, reliability, flexibility in organising instructions, along with patience and the ability to focus on a student.

It's also worth mentioning that the first concept of online instructions in Croatia (again, for math, but also for statistics) appeared in 2011, when a mathematics professor at the Faculty of Science (PMF), University of Zagreb, Toni Milun, started posting videos explaining the curriculum online and for free. And you guessed it; it was a huge hit.

Despite Milun offering additional mathematics lessons for free, E-Matematika having more than 500 registered users and 2000 orders, it seems it can justify the paid offer with its value and use.

However, it will be interesting to see will this trend continue when the pandemic is over and the face-to-face instructions return as normal. Currently, the Croatian media landscape is seeing more and more pupils and parents stepping out and saying that nothing can replace face-to-face classes.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 27th of March, 2020, Croatian mathematician Toni Milun has explained just how many people ''can'' get coronavirus, and what the Croatian health system's limits are.

He has emphasised the point that we are the most important part of this story. We have to stick to these measures and not to go outside, and we need to listen only to expert advice and stay at home.

The spread of coronavirus is currently not linear, but exponential. This, in turn, means that it takes the virus about two days to double the number of infections in the world and the number then increases more and more, Toni Milun explained pictorially, on one piece of paper.

We're the most important part of the story. We must adhere to [the measures in place] and not to go outside, we need to listen to the advice of experts and stay home,'' 24sata writes.

''Yes, every day which passes, we're approaching the peak, we have more and more patients. And when we do get some growth, it'll stay like that for a while. When we get to the number of 150 infected people a day, it will be like that for a few days, and then the numbers will start to go down. Of course, if we're careful and listen to the instructions we're given and we continue to not go out,'' he explained.

Our healthcare system has certain limits.

''The worst case scenario would be to skip over our own capacities. We have about 800 respirators in Croatia. If, for example, 16,000 people became ill and about five percent of them needed respiratory assistance in treatment, we'd be on the brink and our system wouldn't be able to handle that,'' Toni Milun said, once again urging everyone to take responsibility in this situation in order for this scenario to not come to pass at all.

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