Linked Questions

229 votes
46 answers
87k views

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 ...
106 votes
36 answers
20k views

Interesting examples of vacuous / void entities

I included this footnote in a paper in which I mentioned that the number of partitions of the empty set is 1 (every member of any partition is a non-empty set, and of course every member of the empty ...
112 votes
25 answers
36k views

Examples of math hoaxes/interesting jokes published on April Fool's day?

What are examples of math hoaxes/interesting jokes published on April Fool's day? For a start P=NP. Added 2023-04-01 Anything new in 2023?
207 votes
14 answers
58k views

Why doesn't mathematics collapse even though humans quite often make mistakes in their proofs?

To begin with, I am aware of these questions, which seems to be related: How do I fix someone's published error?, Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics, When have we lost a body of ...
57 votes
43 answers
11k views

What are some mathematical sculptures?

Either intentionally or unintentionally. Include location and sculptor, if known.
69 votes
28 answers
7k views

Results from abstract algebra which look wrong (but are true)

There are many statements in abstract algebra, often asked by beginners, which are just too good to be true. For example, if $N$ is a normal subgroup of a group $G$, is $G/N$ isomorphic to a subgroup ...
117 votes
4 answers
36k views

Is the analysis as taught in universities in fact the analysis of definable numbers?

Ten years ago, when I studied in university, I had no idea about definable numbers, but I came to this concept myself. My thoughts were as follows: All numbers are divided into two classes: those ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
46 votes
11 answers
6k views

In "splendid isolation"

While browsing the Net for some articles related to the history of the Whittaker-Shannon sampling theorem, so important to our digital world today, I came across this passage by H. D. Luke in The ...
124 votes
4 answers
31k views

Slick proof?: A vector space has the same dimension as its dual if and only if it is finite dimensional

A very important theorem in linear algebra that is rarely taught is: A vector space has the same dimension as its dual if and only if it is finite dimensional. I have seen a total of one proof of ...
52 votes
11 answers
6k views

What is an important mathematical question?

$\DeclareMathOperator\GL{GL}$Many times I have heard people say sentences like X is an important question/ X is a natural question. I find this very surprising because to me it's all a matter of taste....
47 votes
6 answers
11k views

Intuition for Integral Transforms

It is well known that the operations of differentiation and integration are reduced to multiplication and division after being transformed by an integral transform (like e.g. Fourier or Laplace ...
vonjd's user avatar
  • 5,855
59 votes
7 answers
4k views

How closed-form conjectures are made?

Recently I posted a conjecture at Math.SE: $$\int_0^\infty\ln\frac{J_\mu(x)^2+Y_\mu(x)^2}{J_\nu(x)^2+Y_\nu(x)^2}\mathrm dx\stackrel{?}{=}\frac{\pi}{2}(\mu^2-\nu^2),$$ where $J_\mu(x)$ and $Y_\mu(x)$ ...
Vladimir Reshetnikov's user avatar
71 votes
3 answers
10k views

Cohomology and fundamental classes

Let X be a real orientable compact differentiable manifold. Is the (co)homology of X generated by the fundamental classes of oriented subvarieties? And if not, what is known about the subgroup ...
Andrea Ferretti's user avatar
75 votes
4 answers
6k views

When is a singular point of a variety ($\mathcal{C}^\infty$-) smooth?

If $X$ is a nonsingular algebraic (or analytic) variety over $\mathbb C$ or $\mathbb R$ then it is certainly $C^\infty$ over the reals. The converse is false for a silly reason : in the real or ...
Georges Elencwajg's user avatar
63 votes
7 answers
4k views

What well known results with countability assumptions can be naturally extended to uncountable settings?

In many of the common categories of spaces (or algebras) in mathematics, one often restricts attention to those spaces or algebras which are "countable" or "countably generated" in ...

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