Questions tagged [advice]
This tag is for questions requesting advice (e.g. on a suitable publishing venue, presentation strategy, career move, ethical dilemma). It should be used in conjunction with a more specific tag, such as [journals], [teaching], [career], or [ethics].
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Kashiwara-Schapira Trilogy
I’m going to start reading Kashiwara-Shapira’s trilogy Categories and Sheaves, Sheaves on Manifolds, and Perverse Sheaves with someone soon. Flipping through the table of contents for Sheaves on ...
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Note rejected from arXiv: what to do next?
Short version: A note of mine was rejected by the arXiv moderation (something I didn't even know was possible) on account of being “unrefereeable”. The moderation process provides absolutely no ...
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Pros and cons of specializing in an esoteric research area
If a mathematician specializes in a popular research area, then there are many job positions available, but at the same time, many competitors who are willing to get such job positions. For an ...
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What are some problems for research in functional analysis that can possibly be solved by someone with basic knowledge of the subject? [closed]
I wanted to know are there any problems in Functional Analysis (FA) that can possibly be successfully tackled by someone like me who does not have any expertise in this area but is only familiar with ...
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Including alternative proofs
Suppose I have found two or even more proofs of a theorem and I prepare a paper on it. Is it considered to be a good practice to write down all of the proofs? Or is it considered to be my job as an ...
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What kind of work experience should be included in a math CV for PhD programs?
I am applying to numerous PhD programs in number theory for admission next fall and I want to have a CV prepared, in part because I want to attach a CV to emails I send out to professors at some of my ...
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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 ...
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Tricks for getting a creative idea [closed]
Caveat: I fear that people will criticize me for asking this potentially inappropriate question here, but I guess that the community here is quite unique in the ability of potentially answering my ...
user103598
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Is the field of q-series 'dead'? [closed]
I had a discussion with my advisor about what am I interested as my future research direction and I said it is special functions and q-series. He laughed and said that the topic is essentially dead ...
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Doubts related Shifting from Pure to Applied math [closed]
I am a second year (Pure) Math and (Theoretical) Physics undergraduate in India. I want to do a masters in Applied/Computational Science or Math, for which I have apply after next 7 months.
I have ...
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Is it appropriate to add a dedication to a paper?
A paper of mine (relatively junior mathematician) was just accepted in a good journal, and I was considering adding a dedication to the memory of a mathematician in my area that passed away, and whose ...
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Transitioning from pure mathematics to applied mathematics/machine learning
I recently completed a doctorate in pure mathematics. While in the program, I decided that research was not my ultimate goal/calling. Applied mathematics and machine learning seemed to grab my ...
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Publishing a Simple Paper as an Undergraduate
First off I apologize if this question does not belong here, I would be happy to hear about any better locations to post this on.
I am a (first year) undergraduate mathematics student, and I recently ...
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Question on academic affiliation when submitting a paper
I just finished grad school, earning a Ph.D. in mathematics. Currently I do not know if I want to continue my academic career or not, but in the meantime I have written an article containing some of ...
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What are examples of books which teach the practice of mathematics?
One may classify the types of mathematics books written for students into two groups: books which merely teach mathematics (i.e., they present theorems and proofs, ready-made, as it were) and those ...
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What programming language should a professional mathematician know? [closed]
More and more I am becoming convinced that one should know at least one programming language very well as a mathematician of this century. Is my conviction justified, or not applicable?
If I am right,...
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How practical is it to change research areas within math after a PhD? [closed]
The title says most of it really. How constrained are you in an academic career based on the topic of your PhD thesis? Is it plausible for someome to be researching in an area of math vastly different ...
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Where to find "Families of curves on a surface of general type" (MR0457450)?
I am currently doing some research on surfaces of general type and I need some results from Bogomolov's paper:
Bogomolov, F. A.
Families of curves on a surface of general type.
Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR ...
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What are problems at the center of geometric topology of 2 dimensions? [closed]
I am working on Geometric Topology in 2 dimensions but I don't know which problems are important and make many connections between different areas. I hope Mathematicians can give me some ideas? Thank ...
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How to find research topics in Linear Algebra in Graph Theory [closed]
Note: My first question in this site. MSE users asked me to post this question here for better response
I am a Masters student in Pure Mathematics.
I need to do a Masters thesis in "Linear Algebra ...
user101506
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I am seeking advice for a general audience expository journal [duplicate]
Prefatory note: This be off-topic for this site and, if so, I apologize and seek direction. I am seeking advice for a general audience expository journal to submit my article, “An Application of a ...
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Research-only permanent positions worldwide
Most academic jobs involve some amount of teaching. Post-docs generally do not, but they are only short-term positions.
Question: in which countries can one obtain a research-only permanent ...
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Advice on research ideas on Non Linear Dynamics [closed]
I am interested in Non Linear Dynamics.
I am just a beginner to this research area in the sense that I am starting to read the research papers.
My aim is to make my project to a research paper.
But ...
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A general question on comparison of integrals and a specific problem
When working on an applied math topic, I have come across the following general problem.
Let $f(x_1, x_2, ..., x_n)$ be a real function of $n$ real variables $x_1, x_2, ..., x_n$ which is ...
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Etiquette of publishing folklore results
I am wondering what is the etiquette of publishing a "folklore" result?
Though special cases of the result are well-known, the proof is not readily available in any reference text or paper I've seen....
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Result About Zeta Function Worth Publication? [closed]
Over the past two years at my high school a friend and myself have been working on a paper about the Riemann Hypothesis.
In this paper we derive several definitions of the zeta function from the ...
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When a journal doesn't give your work a fair chance [closed]
There is no way around the fact that determinations about the relative contributions of papers and journal acceptances will always be highly subjective. In addition, editors and referees are busy ...
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A new result on the Diophantine equation $x^3 + y^3 +z^3 = 3$ [closed]
The above Diophantine equation is unknown to have any further integer solutions other than $(x, y, z) = (1, 1, 1)$ and $(4, 4, -5)$.
I am a prospective undergraduate mathematics student in Zimbabwe ...
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Arithmetical results to help study arithmetic geometry?
I'm very keen to deepen my understanding of arithmetic and diophantine problems. In the past I studied some algebraic, analytic and sieve based number theory. Recently I've been reading Weil - Basic ...
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Asking for Advices for Choosing a Ph.D thesis problem (in PDE area)
I'm a first year phd student in Germany. I've started my phd study one year ago and I'm currently confused about the topic I've chosen. The program is in the area of PDEs, and actually I didn't learn ...
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Advice for PhD Supervisors
My first PhD student is having his viva tomorrow. Hence, I began contemplating a bit about the whole process of supervising. One thing I realized is that while there seems to be plenty of advice for ...
13
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What would you do if you improve your own result that is submitted but not published?
Here is a hypothetical situation:
You have proven a result and written up a paper about it. You have submitted your article to some journal and it is being reviewed.
While you are waiting, you have ...
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What's the minimum amount of knowledge to start doing research? [closed]
There are cases in which you have too much knowledge of something to do anything interesting ,and cases in which a lack of experience with a problem (and the prejudices about it) helps someone solve ...
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Use of an appendix in a long paper
I am writing a long paper (around 100 pages). I would consider 50 pages of it interesting in that it solves a problem of some significance in my field and contains an number of difficult ideas in the ...
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Research and exposition: how does writing "basic" books affect your "serious" research work?
I can see the benefit of writing a mathematical monograph: you revise and organize your own work and recollect the key ideas of your own research. But this applies only to books aimed at researchers ...
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Where to find (personal) motivation [closed]
I think it would be appropriate to make this question CW...
It is likely that this question will not survive here on MO for long, but I do hope that the community gives it a chance. I also hope to ...
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Design slides for presentation (conference talk) [closed]
Question: What are approved guidelines for design good slides for a
conference talk, especially with focus on mathematics?
I'm aware of the following, general best practices for holding a ...
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Advice for pure-math Phd students [closed]
Pursuing a Phd in pure math can be a daunting task. A number of students who begin a Phd in pure math don't complete it, and there are high-quality dissertations and those which are not so high ...
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How can an extremely mathematically talented young person be helped to fulfill his/her potential?
Obviously, this question is not a research level mathematics question at all. But, I've just met an extremely mathematically talented $11$ years old student and I don't know how I can help him. For ...
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How difficult will it be for me to switch fields (details below) after my Ph.D. in pure mathematics?
I'm a first year postdoctoral researcher, working in pure areas of Riemann surfaces and differential geometry, after just finishing my Ph.D. in 2013. Recently I've also started taking interest in ...
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Beginner's questions on the post-doc application
I am going on the (research oriented) post-doc job market (mainly in the US) this winter and would like to ask some questions. I am aware of the site http://academia.stackexchange.com, but I am ...
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Preparing for Set Theory Research
Is reading Jech's text on Set Theory too little, just enough, or overkill to prepare oneself to do independent research in set theory? This would be my first attempt at doing independent research ...
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State of research in moduli space of flat connections
I am a recent PhD student trying to settle into a research topic. Even though I have a current project I am working on, I am not particularly enjoying it and would like to switch. Before braving the ...
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Research topics restricted to students at top universities?
Hello everybody.
I am a Ph.D student in North America looking for advice about my prospective research area.
My supervisor works in a research area, let's say area A, so as soon as I was accepted as ...
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Is it possible to get another math PhD
My undergrad being in a field other than mathematics (and not in the US), I couldn't get into the Princeton/Harvard/MIT tier of universities for my math PhD. I settled for a lesser program and got my ...
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Should one attack hard problems? [closed]
When I applied for a PhD student position I had an interview with two professors. Somehow we touched the problem if $P$ is $NP$ and, once we got there, for some reason both professors made it clear ...
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How should a professor feel peace of mind when a student leaves academia? [closed]
I apologize if this is the wrong forum for this question -- if so, could somebody please point me to the correct one?
I'm a professor who recently started advising graduate students, and I'm trying ...
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Where to find NSF Reports (For mathematical expository purpose)? [closed]
This is not asking about how to apply for funding.
I just find that some NSF funding report (near the end of the funding cycle) is quite interesting read. In particular, it's almost like a research ...
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Math major at 36 [closed]
I decided to go for math at 36. Is this idea possible? I studied literature, political science and international relations and still I am not really sure what I am doing.
Since I was kid, I was not ...
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submit the second part of a paper
I couldn't find similar question being asked here. The closest one I can find is When to split/merge papers?. Here is my situation: I proved a theorem. When I try to type it, I found that it's very ...