# All Questions

9k views

### Examples of major theorems with very hard proofs that have NOT dramatically improved over time

This question complement a previous MO question: Examples of theorems with proofs that have dramatically improved over time. I am looking for a list of Major theorems in mathematics whose proofs ...
62k views

### A single paper everyone should read? [closed]

Different people like different things in math, but sometimes you stand in awe before a beautiful and simple, but not universally known, result that you want to share with any of your colleagues. Do ...
1k views

### Why should curves be two-dimensional?

In Weil cohomology, a nice curve has cohomology up to degree 2, or more generally a nice $n$-dimensional variety has cohomology up to degree $2n$. I know that this was motivated at least in part by a ...
28k views

### Thinking and Explaining

How big a gap is there between how you think about mathematics and what you say to others? Do you say what you're thinking? Please give either personal examples of how your thoughts and words ...
226 views

### A generalization of residual finiteness to topological groups

Consider the following generalization of residual finiteness to topological groups. A locally compact Hausdorff group $G$ is called residually compact if for every compact $K \subseteq G$ there is a ...
43k views

### Have any long-suspected irrational numbers turned out to be rational?

The history of proving numbers irrational is full of interesting stories, from the ancient proofs for $\sqrt{2}$, to Lambert's irrationality proof for $\pi$, to Roger Apéry's surprise demonstration ...
1k views

### How to write an abstract for a math paper? [closed]

How would you go about writing an abstract for a Math paper? I know that an abstract is supposed to "advertise" the paper. However, I do not really know how to get started. Could someone tell me how ...
28k views

### What are the most misleading alternate definitions in taught mathematics?

I suppose this question can be interpreted in two ways. It is often the case that two or more equivalent (but not necessarily semantically equivalent) definitions of the same idea/object are used in ...
33k views

### Math puzzles for dinner [closed]

You're hanging out with a bunch of other mathematicians - you go out to dinner, you're on the train, you're at a department tea, et cetera. Someone says something like "A group of 100 people at a ...
23k views

### 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 ...
222 views

### Correlation between two distance measures on bitstrings

I have an infinite collection of $0/1$ random strings of length $n$ (i.e., say 010001110101), where each digit is an independent Bernoulli RV, with parameter $p_i$, $i:1...n$. Define the "trait ...
536 views

### Minimum value of $|p(1)|^2+|p(2)|^2 +…+ |p(n+3)|^2$ over all monic polynomials $p$

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Determine the smallest possible value of $|p(1)|^2+|p(2)|^2 +...+ |p(n+3)|^2$ over all monic polynomials $p$ of degree $n$. This question was proposed (problem ...
2k views

### What is the purpose of the flat/fppf/fpqc topologies?

There have been other similar questions before (e.g. What is your picture of the flat topology?), but none of them seem to have been answered fully. As someone who originally started in ...
12k views

### Most intricate and most beautiful structures in mathematics

In the December 2010 issue of Scientific American, an article "A Geometric Theory of Everything" by A. G. Lisi and J. O. Weatherall states "... what is arguably the most intricate structure known to ...
689 views

### A question of Erdos on entire functions

At the end of the following paper, Erdos asked if there is a family $F$ of entire functions of size continuum such that for every $z \in \mathbb{C}$, $\{f(z) : f \in F\}$ has size less than continuum. ...
34k views

### Where does a math person go to learn quantum mechanics?

My undergraduate advisor said something very interesting to me the other day; it was something like "not knowing quantum mechanics is like never having heard a symphony." I've been meaning to learn ...
577 views

### Harmonic spinors on closed hyperbolic manifolds

Does anyone know an example of a closed spin hyperbolic manifold of dimension 3 or greater such that the kernel of the Dirac operator is non-trivial? I'm mainly interested in the 3-dimensional case ...
14k views

### Major mathematical advances past age fifty [closed]

From A Mathematician’s Apology, G. H. Hardy, 1940: "I had better say something here about this question of age, since it is particularly important for mathematicians. No mathematician should ever ...
739 views

### Counterexamples for strengthening Whitehead's theorem?

Let $f:X\to Y$ be a pointed map of pointed connected $n$-dimensional CW complexes. Whitehead's theorem says that if $f_*:\pi_qX\to \pi_qY$ is an isomorphism for $q\le n$ and a surjection for $q=n+1$, ...
382 views

19k views

### What if Current Foundations of Mathematics are Inconsistent? [closed]

The title of the question is also the title of a talk by Vladimir Voevodsky, available here. Had this kind of opinion been expressed before? EDIT. Thanks to all answerers, commentators, voters, ...
303 views

### Why are unramified maps not required to be locally of finite presentation?

I have read and heard several times that it is “important” that unramified maps are not required to be locally of finite presentation, but only locally of finite type. Apart from this issue with ...
172 views