Frequent Questions
19,568 questions
1085
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Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics
The first thing to say is that this is not the same as the question about interesting mathematical mistakes. I am interested about the type of false beliefs that many intelligent people have while ...
147
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66
answers
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Important formulas in combinatorics
Motivation:
The poster for the conference celebrating Noga Alon's 60th birthday, fifteen formulas describing some of Alon's work are presented. (See this post, for the poster, and cash prizes offered ...
232
votes
13
answers
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Is there an introduction to probability theory from a structuralist/categorical perspective?
The title really is the question, but allow me to explain.
I am a pure mathematician working outside of probability theory, but the concepts and techniques of probability theory (in the sense of ...
- 65.8k
397
votes
118
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Not especially famous, long-open problems which anyone can understand
Question: I'm asking for a big list of not especially famous, long open problems that anyone can understand. Community wiki, so one problem per answer, please.
Motivation: I plan to use this list in ...
44
votes
5
answers
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Finding a 1-form adapted to a smooth flow
Let $M$ be a smooth compact manifold, and let $X$ be a smooth vector field of $M$ that is nowhere vanishing, thus one can think of the pair $(M,X)$ as a smooth flow with no fixed points. Let us say ...
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53
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Widely accepted mathematical results that were later shown to be wrong?
Are there any examples in the history of mathematics of a mathematical proof that was initially reviewed and widely accepted as valid, only to be disproved a significant amount of time later, possibly ...
43
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6
answers
7k
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An algebra of "integrals"
When discussing divergent integrals with people, I got curious about the following:
Is there an $\mathbb{R}$-algebra $A$ together with a map (could be defined on just a subspace)
$$\int_0^{\infty}: ...
- 3,866
296
votes
34
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40k
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Which journals publish expository work?
I wonder if anyone else has noticed that the market for expository papers in mathematics is very narrow (more so than it used to be, perhaps).
Are there any journals which publish expository work, ...
73
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3
answers
9k
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Can you solve the listed smallest open Diophantine equations?
In 2018, Zidane asked What is the smallest unsolved Diophantine equation? The suggested way to measure size is substitute 2 instead of all variables, absolute values instead of all coefficients, and ...
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245
votes
46
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91k
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Most interesting mathematics mistake?
Some mistakes in mathematics made by extremely smart and famous people can eventually lead to interesting developments and theorems, e.g. Poincaré's 3d sphere characterization or the search to prove ...
88
votes
5
answers
10k
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When is $A$ isomorphic to $A^3$?
This is totally elementary, but I have no idea how to solve it: let $A$ be an abelian group such that $A$ is isomorphic to $A^3$. is then $A$ isomorphic to $A^2$? probably no, but how construct a ...
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41
votes
2
answers
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Why is there a connection between enumerative geometry and nonlinear waves?
Recently I encountered in a class the fact that there is a generating function of Gromov–Witten invariants that satisfies the Korteweg–de Vries hierarchy. Let me state the fact more precisely. ...
- 1,659
12
votes
3
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2k
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Limit cycles as closed geodesics (in negatively or positively curved space)
Updated 1/25/2023 I just added a related post below:
Jacobi fields, Conjugate points and limit cycle theory
EDIT: Here is a related post which concern quadratic vector fields rather than Van ...
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8
votes
1
answer
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Pochhammer symbol of a differential, and hypergeometric polynomials
I have a minor result which I'm sure has come up somewhere before but I can't seem to find it.
Consider a confluent hypergeometric function of the form
$$\newcommand{\ff}{{}_1F_1}
\ff(b+k;b;z)\...
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257
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16
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Why worry about the axiom of choice?
As I understand it, it has been proven that the axiom of choice is independent of the other axioms of set theory. Yet I still see people fuss about whether or not theorem X depends on it, and I don't ...