Questions tagged [soft-question]
Questions that are about research in mathematics, or about the job of a research mathematician, without being mathematical problems or statements in the strictest sense. Do not use this tag for easy or supposedly easy mathematical questions.
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Why are attempts that fail to solve a problem not published?
I read Beukers paper on proving the irrationality of $\zeta(3)$. I was wondering if it was possible to use his approach to other $\zeta$ values or the Catalan constant. I searched online for something ...
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Harmonic Analysis Textbook Recommendation
I am looking for a textbook that covers much the same content as Stein's 'Singular Integrals' and 'Harmonic Analysis' textbooks and does so at similar pace and level, with similar organization of the ...
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Why is inner model theory evidence for consistency of large cardinals?
I want to understand the viewpoint that existence of canonical inner model for a large cardinal notion is strong evidence for its consistency. For example, below is Trevor Wilson's answer to What &...
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Discovering patterns in data and methodologies used
I feel really dumb asking this but are there examples of any type of data where once a pattern/structure is discovered, the pattern is usually simple but the methodology used to discover that pattern ...
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Applications of Banach space homology
There is a well-developed theory of Banach space homology. What are some of its useful applications to Banach space theory and which important questions can one answer using it? In other words, how ...
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What is the best way to introduce tensor products to undergrads?
What is the best way to introduce vector space tensor products to undergrads? We have a number of options, given in no particular order.
The universal property proving uniqueness and not existence.
...
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Search publications for LaTeX code
Is there a way to search the literature for specific instances of formulas (and variants), perhaps using $\rm\LaTeX$ code?
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How can I (semi-formally) convince myself that Euclidean geometry comports with visual intuition?
I originally posted this question on Math.SE and received some interesting comments but no answers. Now that some time has passed I thought that it might be appropriate to post here as well; perhaps ...
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What are journal rankings that employers look at? [closed]
What are journal rankings that employers look at?
There are few questions on this topic already, but I don't think they fully address my question. Please close this one if it is not appropriate for ...
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Is it fine to correct and extend texts of a late colleague when publishing them?
Our colleague has passed away in autumn. He was active till the last days of his life; respectively, several texts of his authorship remain unpublished. We would like to publish them; yet the problem ...
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Literature about formalization of "natural reasoning" in mathematical logic
In "Logic of sheaves of structures", X. Caicedo justifies the logic he introduces stating (more or less) that assertions about a point should really be understood as assertions about a ...
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Algebra/Algebraic geometry in statistical mechanics
This is a soft question. I am currently studying statistical mechanics and I found this one by chance: Algebraic statistical mechanics
And I also found some workshops on interactions between ...
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Examples of games developed purposely to analyze players' strategies for mathematics research
Background
This question is about games that were created, developed, deployed and popularized1 by researchers because they wanted to learn more about some mathematical structure, and did so by ...
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Are there any undergraduate-friendly research areas in algebra? [closed]
I don't know if this question is more appropriate for the academia stack exchange, but I'm posting it here because it's more closely related to math itself.
I'm not actually an undergraduate, I'm a ...
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Defining properties of categories out of an indicial category
$\newcommand{\Hom}{\operatorname{Hom}}$Suppose we want to define the category of arrows of $S$. Below are two forms of doing it.
Definition 1: If $D$ is of the following type: $\bullet \to \bullet$, ...
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What's up with old volumes of the Journal of Algebraic Geometry?
I'm not sure if this question is appropriate for MO, but I'm certain that some people visiting MO must have been confronted with the same issue as mine.
It happened several times that a reference ...
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What mathematical problems can be attacked using DeepMind's recent mathematical breakthroughs?
I am a research mathematician at a university in the United States. My training is in pure mathematics (geometry). However, for the past couple of months, I have been supervising some computer science ...
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Suggestions and feature requests for the design of a font for math articles/books
A little context and introduction: I'm currently working on a family of fonts ("Darwin") designed for use in formal writing and optimised in particular for use in mathematics articles, books,...
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How to write mathematics without typing?
What solutions exist for mathematicians who need to write papers, but can't type? (I'm an early-career research mathematician and I can't type for the next few months.)
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Tips for reading arXiv papers in mathematics
What tips do you have for reading arXiv papers in mathematics?
This could be too broad if I'm not careful, so here are some limitations on how to make the question appropriate for MO:
I'm interested ...
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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 ...
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Cartesian product of $[(k-2)\text{-times Interval}_1] \times [\text{Interval}_2] \times [\text{Interval}_2]$
This is a soft question, hoping that it is still appropriate for this forum.
I need to describe twice the following region of $\mathbb{R}^k$ (i.e., we are in a $k$-dimensional Euclidean space, where $...
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Are there grants supporting sabbatical year in US? [closed]
I am a tenured mathematician at a university outside of the US. I would be interested to spend my sabbatical year in one of the US universities.
Are there grants I can apply to partially support my ...
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A starting point for research in Graph Theory as a high schooler [closed]
I am a 10th grader and I'm very interested in mathematics. As of now, I'm into math contests and I take great pleasure in solving problems from contests such as the AIME/USAMO/IMO. These only require ...
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Does "derived" make anything constant in non-flat families?
This is an extremely basic (and surely amateurish) question that might be about derived geometry.
In usual algebraic geometry, if we have a flat projective morphism $f:X \to S$ with $S$ integral, and ...
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How complicated can an elementary antiderivative get?
I asked this question on MSE here.
I recently learned that there are many very large numbers that have been defined, such as $\operatorname{TREE}(3)$ and many others that are too big to be written ...
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Zentralblatt MATH volume numbering
Recently, I learned how to read some of codes that appear on specific pages in zbMATH Open, formerly known as Zentralblatt MATH.
For example, in the above review, the circled code "Zbl 1218....
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Software for Intersection of Ideals in Noncommutative Polynomial algebra
I am looking for software which can compute an intersection of ideals (in particular right ideals) in a noncommutative polynomial algebra and then find its Gröbner Basis.
Most software somehow does ...
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Why include $0$ and $1$ in the signature of Presburger arithmetic?
I recently became interested in some problems concerning decidability of extensions of Presburger arithmetic. However, being a number-theorist rather than a logician, I am confused by some notational ...
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AI tools for editing and re-generating old math documents
What AI-powered or multi-modal LLM (Large Language Model) apps/interfaces are available to edit/revise pdf or Word documents by automatically producing LaTex for the math expressions within the ...
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Why does mathematics seem to have a polarity bias?
Why does mathematics seem to have a polarity bias, i.e., why are products more common than coproducts, algebras more common than coalgebras, limits more common than colimits, monads more common than ...
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Breakthroughs in mathematics in 2023
At the end of 2021, Johnny Cage asked about breakthroughs in 2021 in different mathematical disciplines. A similar question has been asked at the end of 2022, so it looks like Johnny Cage originated a ...
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Uses of excluded middle on a conjecture that can be rewritten constructively with this trick
An interesting proof technique is to use the law of excluded middle on a conjecture. There are proofs using LEM on the Riemann hypothesis for example.
Constructively this is disallowed (if you can ...
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What phenomena are better modelled by SDE instead of ODE?
Both stochastic differential equations (SDE) and ordinary differential equations (ODE) can be used to model a variety of different phenomena, whether physical or otherwise. Most deterministic ODE ...
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Where can I publish a paper about how to write mathematical papers?
I am thinking about writing a paper: "How (not) to write a mathematical paper." I want to share my thoughts and experience about good and bad habits, and common mistakes. While it will be a ...
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Is an easy proof of an interesting result worth publishing?
I am a Phd math student, and I was wondering what was the general consensus on what is publishable and what is not.
I've come here with an example in mind which should give some insight. I recently ...
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A clear map of mathematical approaches to Artificial Intelligence
I have recently become interested in Machine Learning and AI as a student of theoretical physics and mathematics, and have gone through some of the recommended resources dealing with statistical ...
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Examples of ZBMath reviews that motivated you to read the paper
This is community wiki question.
I will be writing my first review for ZBMath. I would like to take some suggestion through examples.
In general, abstract is too small and introduction is too lengthy ...
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How exactly are realizability and the Curry-Howard correspondence related?
Consider, on the one hand:
the Curry-Howard correspondence between, on the one hand, types and terms (programs) in various flavors of typed $\lambda$-calculus, and on the other, propositions and ...
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What's the definition of a mouse in Mitchell's handbook article "the covering lemma"?
In the book "handbook of set theory", in the chapter "the covering lemma", definition 3.24, Mitchell defines what is mouse.
However he did not give any definition of $\mathcal{U}_\...
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When has the scaffolding been more important than the completed building?
Niels Abel once said(1) of Gauss, "He is like the fox, who effaces his tracks in the sand with his tail." to which Gauss replied, "No self-respecting architect leaves the scaffolding in ...
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Sparse representation for continuous function?
I recently came across the field of "Sparse representation".
A talk is given here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bW4TkfTk-M.
The goal of sparse representation is taking a signal and ...
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What are some ways to stay engaged with the mathematical community from outside academia?
I will be graduating with a Masters degree soon in mathematics. For various reasons I have decided not to pursue a career in academia for now and will instead be working a job in industry that will ...
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How to effectively search Internet for graphs not for function graphs? [closed]
So, is there any way to distinguish graphs and plots in Internet?
I was looking for (Olivier-)Ricci curvature of graphs and found a lot about Ricci curvature of function graphs and not so much about ...
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How to select suitable journals for submission? [closed]
I think this post should be made community wiki, as there may not be some definitive answer, and it's more like a discussion.
My question is actually more subtle than the title of the post. What I ...
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How to handle a research identity crisis
I have studied applied math and got a PhD (3yrs) in that field with applications in fluid dynamics. Then in my first postdoc (1.5yrs) I did again a postdoc in applied math but studied applications in ...
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A citation from Dieudonné about existence, classification and construction
I am looking for an exact quote from Jean Dieudonné saying more or less that
there are three kinds of important problems in mathematics:
problems of existence, classification and construction.
The ...
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Why study finite topological spaces?
In rereading Thurston's essay On Proof and Progress in Mathematics I ran across this passage:
… this means that some concepts that I use freely and naturally in
my personal thinking are foreign to ...
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Bias of DS literature to polynomial ODEs
In the literature on continuous time dynamical system, we generally deal with an open set $U \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ and a vector field $F: U \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n$ and define a DS by the ODE
$$\...
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How to think of algebraic geometry in characteristic p?
How does a working mathematician usually think about algebraic geometry in characteristic $p$? For the sake of concreteness, and to make things more "geometric" (whatever that means), let's ...
