Questions tagged [intuition]

Questions asking for the intuition behind some definition, conjecture, proof etc. In other words, questions designed to improve or to acquire understanding on a conceptual or intuitive level, as opposed to on a technical or formal level. When asking such a question it can be helpful to include a rough description of ones understanding of the subject at hand (on a technical level).

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36 votes
7 answers
17k views

Daunting papers/books and how to finally read them

Most people throughout their career encounter at least one paper that seems especially daunting to them. I'm interested in real stories of how you successfully overcame that to extract the knowledge ...
4 votes
0 answers
162 views

How to think about Beilinson's gluing data?

Let $X$ be a complex manifold, $D$ a divisor (that is globally the zero locus of a function) and $U$ its complement. Recall Beilinson's "how to glue perverse sheaves": Given a perverse ...
Pulcinella's user avatar
  • 5,507
4 votes
0 answers
263 views

Dévissage for a stratification in Grothendieck's Esquisse d’un programme: What is it?

I have a question about the the intuition of what Grothendieck proposed as tame topology in his "Esquisse d’un programme" as a "better suited" geometric structure in order to have ...
user267839's user avatar
  • 5,938
2 votes
0 answers
67 views

Justification of modular law in allegories

The modular law in modular lattices can be described as an isomorphism between opposite edges of the square $(a \land b), a, b, (a\lor b)$. A fancier way of saying this is an adjoint equivalence with ...
Trebor's user avatar
  • 971
3 votes
1 answer
357 views

What heuristic arguments support Montgomery's conjecture for primes in short intervals?

I have a question regarding a conjecture due to H. L. Montgomery on the number of primes in short intervals. The conjecture apparently arises from probabilistic reasoning upon assuming the Riemann ...
AfterMath's user avatar
  • 405
13 votes
4 answers
2k views

Meaning of a quantum field given by an operator-valued distribution

I am trying to grasp the basics of rigorous quantum field theory. Let me summise how the setup of non-interacting quantum field theories look like to me. Let $\mathcal{H}$ be a Hilbert space in which ...
Jannik Pitt's user avatar
  • 1,103
-2 votes
1 answer
381 views

What is Bernoulli umbra philosophically?

Well, Bernoulli umbra is an umbra whose moments are the Bernoulli numbers. But what is it philosophically? For instance, we can consider imaginary unit $i$ an umbra with moments $\{1,0,−1,0,1,\ldots\}$...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
7 votes
1 answer
269 views

Why does non-decreasing entropy imply actual convergence to that max entropy distribution?

Let $X_n$ be i.i.d with finite variance. Let $\bar X_n=\frac 1n \sum_{i=1}^nX_i$. It is a famous result that the continuous/differential entropy of the normalized average is non-decreasing. $$\mathrm ...
Arrow's user avatar
  • 10.3k
10 votes
1 answer
1k views

What's the intuition for weighted limits?

I am reading Fosco's Coend Calculus and Emily Riehl's Categorical Homotopy Theory, Riehl's book motivates it in the following way, Abstraction 1: Classical limits in terms of cones: Cones from an ...
MrPajeet's user avatar
  • 433
3 votes
0 answers
223 views

How rigorously can we apply the data supplied by this nonstandard attack on Kuratowski's closure-complement problem?

Suppose a student assigned an advanced version of Kuratowski’s closure-complement problem to solve—one that leaves out the standard hint about the finite upper bound of $14$—decides to look for the ...
mathematrucker's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
300 views

Is there any intuition of why the both, regularized logarithm of zero is $-\gamma$ and the regularized logarithm of Bernoulli umbra is $-\gamma$?

If we take the MacLaurin series for $\ln(x+1)$ and evaluate it at $x=-1$, we will get the Harmonic series with the opposite sign: $-\sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac1x$. Since the regularized sum of the ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
3 votes
1 answer
172 views

Flat manifolds are local geometric objects

In an article called synthetic geometry in Riemannian manifolds M. Gromov says that tori (and in general flat manifolds) must be seen as local geometric objects. He does so after making an example ...
Dinisaur's user avatar
  • 213
1 vote
0 answers
97 views

Intuitively, what makes Bernoulli umbra so similar to the zero divisors in split-complex numbers?

Notation. Here I will denote Bernoulli umbra (its moments are Bernoulli numbers $B_n$) as $B_-$, $B_-+1$ as $B_+$ (an umbra with moments being Bernoulli numbers except $B_1=1/2$). I will denote the ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
1 vote
0 answers
130 views

Do the equalities $\int_0^∞1dx·\int _0^∞1dx=2\int_0^∞xdx$ and $\int_0^∞e^xdx·\int_0^∞e^xdx=2\int_0^∞e^{2 x}dx-2\int_0^∞e^xdx$ make sense?

Previously I tried to define multiplication of divergent integrals, but my approach turned out to be umbral-like. Now, I decided to define multiplication of divergent integrals in a Hardy fields-like ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
11 votes
1 answer
840 views

Intuition/meaning behind/physical content of the concept of a smooth structure

Some mathematical structures are visualized very well. I imagine how a shapeless bunch of points (a set; the only property of which is quantity) is collected in one or another soft form (topological ...
Arshak Aivazian's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
338 views

What do higher order diffusion terms do?

I have been trying to learn to work with the Python module FiPy, which is supposed to solve PDEs of the form $$ \frac {\partial(\rho \phi)} {\partial t} - [\nabla\cdot(\Gamma_i\nabla)]^n\phi - \nabla \...
FusRoDah's user avatar
  • 3,680
59 votes
4 answers
7k views

Is orientability a miracle?

$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}\DeclareMathOperator\O{O}$This question is prompted by a recent highly-upvoted question, Conceptual reason why the sign of a permutation is well-defined? The responses made ...
Timothy Chow's user avatar
160 votes
37 answers
15k views

Conceptual reason why the sign of a permutation is well-defined?

Teaching group theory this semester, I found myself laboring through a proof that the sign of a permutation is a well-defined homomorphism $\operatorname{sgn} : \Sigma_n \to \Sigma_2$. An insightful ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
  • 60.5k
34 votes
16 answers
4k views

Archiving mathematical correspondence

What are great examples of comprehensively archived mathematical correspondence (including both handwritten and electronic items)? Context: polished papers usually don't reveal the full process that ...
1 vote
0 answers
108 views

What is some algebraic intuition behind the fact that the (real part) of the logarithm of Bernoulli umbra plus $1$, is $-\gamma$?

Bernoulli umbra is defined in classical umbral calculus as in Taylor - Difference equations via the classical umbral calculus. Yu - Bernoulli Operator and Riemann's Zeta Function shows that $\...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
5 votes
2 answers
734 views

In what precise sense is quantum (i.e., non-commutative) probability not expressable in terms of classical probability?

The quantum set-up has many settings, so let's fix some definitions. I will be taking the Hilbert space approach with a minor modification that I will make explicit. We begin with a Hilbert space $\...
Mehmet Coen's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
606 views

Arzelà-Ascoli for $C_b(0,1)$? Or more generally, why is that continuous functions "live most naturally" on compact spaces?

I’m wondering if there is a version of Arzelà-Ascoli for continuous functions on not-necessarily compact metric/Hausdorff spaces $X$, i.e. a characterization of the compact subsets of $C_b(X)$ (under ...
D.R.'s user avatar
  • 681
1 vote
1 answer
158 views

Intuition of the "work" done by random variables in Monte Carlo methods (incl. MCL)

(I've tried Math SE, but have so far come up empty handed, so I'm trying my luck here.) I would like to get a better intuitive understanding of why Monte Carlo works so well in approximating a ...
litmus's user avatar
  • 91
-5 votes
1 answer
196 views

Can we say that everywhere where it makes sense $\log_0 x=0^x$? Are they equal, the function is self-inverse? If so, what is deep intuition behind it? [closed]

It makes little reason to speak about $0^x$ and $\log_0 x$ on the set of real numbers, but in matrices, it seems, the expressions coincide, for instance, $0^ \left( \begin{array}{cc} \frac{1}{2} &...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
5 votes
0 answers
348 views

Geometric meaning of localization at $(1+I)$?

Let $I\vartriangleleft A$ be an ideal of a commutative ring. Consider the submonoid $1+I\subset A$. What is the geometric interpretation of localization at this submonoid? How does it relate to the ...
Arrow's user avatar
  • 10.3k
0 votes
1 answer
124 views

In what circumstances do we typically encounter expressions like $(c/2+1/2)^n \pm(c/2-1/2)^n$?

It attracted my attention that in many areas of mathematics we sometimes encounter expressions of the form $(c/2+1/2)^n \pm(c/2-1/2)^n$, where $c$ is some kind of a known constant. Split-complex ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
2 votes
0 answers
239 views

Hypermodulus and what mathematical objects have it

When researching divergent integrals, I decided to introduce a concept of "modulus" or "determinant" of divergent integral (and series). Basically, it is the exponent of the real ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
3 votes
2 answers
441 views

Why the sign in the definition of the discriminant?

Consider the split monic $f=\prod_{i=1}^n(x-x_i)\in \mathbb Z[x_1 ,\dots ,x_n,x]$. Its discriminant is usually defined as $$(-1)^{n(n-1)/2}\prod_{i=1}^nf^\prime(x_i)=\prod_{1\leq i<j\leq n}(x_i-x_j)...
Arrow's user avatar
  • 10.3k
9 votes
2 answers
886 views

Meaning of the coadjoint representation and its orbits

Given a Lie group $G$ there is a natural representation of $G$ on the dual of its Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}^*$ given by the coadjoint representation. This representation is obtained by differentiating ...
Jannik Pitt's user avatar
  • 1,103
1 vote
0 answers
60 views

Topological intuition for the cancellation property of separated maps w.r.t a class of properties of continuous maps

Recall a continuous map is separated if its diagonal is closed. This is equivalent to the fibers being relatively Hausdorff in the total space. Proposition. Suppose $\mathrm P$ is a class of ...
Arrow's user avatar
  • 10.3k
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is the intuition behind the Kantorovich potential in optimal transport?

From what I currently understand, under certain conditions one may turn the usual Kantorovich problem - a minimisation problem in terms of measures into a maximisation problem in terms of functions. ...
Nate River's user avatar
  • 4,802
1 vote
1 answer
594 views

Intuition behind formal neighborhood and local ring and formal power series

In The Geometry of Schemes by David Eisenbud and Joe Harris, on page 57, there is an explanation on "node" of a plane curve. The book says that, a curve $X\subseteq \mathbb A_{\mathbb C}^2$ ...
Ma Joad's user avatar
  • 1,591
5 votes
0 answers
882 views

Intuition behind exceptional inverse image?

The story is probably well-known: given a map $f:X\to Y$ of spaces (say schemes, but there are many other contexts), we have two classical operations between sheaves on $X$ and those on $Y$: the ...
Wojowu's user avatar
  • 27.3k
39 votes
3 answers
5k views

What is so geometric about symplectic geometry?

Symplectic geometry is often motivated by the Hamilton's equation which in turn are a reformulation of Newton's third law. But the subject itself is of independent mathematical interest. What I don't ...
Jannik Pitt's user avatar
  • 1,103
1 vote
0 answers
98 views

What intuitive meaning "determinant" of a divergency (divergent integral, series, germ, pole or a singularity) can have?

I am working on the algebra of "divergencies", that is, infinite integrals, series, and germs. So, I decided to construct something similar to the modulus or determinant of a matrix of these ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Intuition/elegant reason for why Langevin diffusion converges to $\exp(-U)$?

Given a potential function $U: \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$, Langevin diffusion is gradient descent plus a Brownian motion term: $X' = -\nabla U(X) + \sqrt{2} \text{ }dW$. It happens that the ...
Linus Hamilton's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
302 views

Is the solution to the Fredholm integral equation of the first kind a continuous analogue of Cramer's rule for matrix equations?

When we have a system of of $n$ linear equations represented by $$A \vec{x} = \vec{b} $$ with $\vec{x} = (x_{1}, x_{2}, \dots, x_{n})^{\intercal} $, we can solve for each component of this vector by ...
Max Muller's user avatar
  • 4,435
7 votes
0 answers
582 views

Understanding the higher stack of perfect complexes

One of the most famous examples of higher Artin stacks is the stack of perfect complexes. I recall here the basic stuff: We fix a function $b: \mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \mathbb{N}$ which is zero ...
Martin Hurtado's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
163 views

Morphisms between compact quantum groups

Let $(A, \Delta_A)$ and $(B, \Delta_B)$ be two compact quantum groups (in the sense of Woronowicz). I would be tempted to define a morphism $(A, \Delta_A) \to (B, \Delta_B)$ to be a unital $*$-...
user avatar
33 votes
5 answers
6k views

How should you explain parallel transport to undergraduates?

The title is a bit deceiving, because what I really mean is the parallel transport that corresponds to the Levi–Civita connection. This is in the vein of many other questions on mathoverflow: What is ...
Andrew NC's user avatar
  • 2,011
24 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is an interpretation mathematics (fit for publication)?

Background I am a mathematician with two published papers. The first is based on my PhD thesis and generalised a tool to a more general setting. The thesis was cited a number of times by the time the ...
Newbie's user avatar
  • 265
3 votes
0 answers
407 views

What intuitive meaning "determinant" of a divergency (divergent integral or series) can have? [closed]

I am working on the algebra of "divergencies", that is, infinite integrals, series and germs. So, I decided to construct something similar to determinant of a matrix of these entities. $$\...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
2 votes
0 answers
276 views

Can be this "handwaving" idea about "counting" reals somehow put on solid ground?

We know that the Cantor's cardinality of a countable set is $\aleph_0$ and the cardinality of continuum is $2^{\aleph_0}=\aleph_0^{\aleph_0}$. Unfortunately, this measure is based on the idea of ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
16 votes
2 answers
2k views

Intuitive explanation why "shadow operator" $\frac D{e^D-1}$ connects logarithms with trigonometric functions?

Consider the operator $\frac D{e^D-1}$ which we will call "shadow": $$\frac {D}{e^D-1}f(x)=\frac1{2 \pi }\int_{-\infty }^{+\infty } e^{-iwx}\frac{-iw}{e^{-i w}-1}\int_{-\infty }^{+\infty } e^...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,316
2 votes
0 answers
203 views

Interpretation of polar derivative and apolar polynomials

If $f(x)$ is a degree $n$ polynomial and $b \in \mathbb{C}$ is a complex number, then the polar derivative of $f$ with respect to $b$ is defined by $$D_b f(x) = nf(x) - (x - b)f'(x).$$ Two degree $n$ ...
Russ Weterson's user avatar
59 votes
9 answers
5k views

Examples of back of envelope calculations leading to good intuition?

Some time ago, I read about an "approximate approach" to the Stirling's formula in M.Sanjoy's Street Fighting Mathematics. In summary, the book used a integral estimation heuristic from ...
2 votes
2 answers
368 views

What concept does covariance formalise?

So for me the definition the independence of two random variables $X,Y$ is intuitivly very clear. But what I have never seen motivated is why the heck one would be interested in the covariance $$\...
Jannik Pitt's user avatar
  • 1,103
42 votes
5 answers
8k views

What is the Levi-Civita connection trying to describe?

I have seen similar questions, but none of the answers relate to my difficulty, which I will now proceed to convey. Let $(M,g)$ be a Riemannian manifolds. The Levi-Civita connection is the unique ...
Andrew NC's user avatar
  • 2,011
2 votes
0 answers
179 views

Dyadic models in number theory and "spillover"

In a classic blog post, Tao discusses the appearance of "dyadic models" in various guises in various areas of math. The number-theoretic version of the idea is to study polynomials over a ...
William D'Alessandro's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
408 views

Dimension of the moduli stack of vector bundles over a curve

Let $Vect_{n}(C)$ the moduli stack of vector bundles $V$ of rank $n$ over a smooth curve $C$ of genus $g$. It is well known that $Vect_{n}(C)$ is a smooth stack of dimension $\dim(H^{0}(C,End(V)))-\...
Martin Hurtado's user avatar

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