Timeline for Unpopular "elementary" theorems/identities to impress an audience of mathematicians. [closed]
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
24 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 3, 2011 at 20:05 | history | edited | Otis Chodosh | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
link to gauss-lucas theorem didn't work for me so i fixed it
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| Jan 3, 2011 at 16:58 | comment | added | Mitch | +1 simply for pointing out Marden's theorem. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 15:21 | history | closed |
Pete L. Clark Qiaochu Yuan Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Andrew Stacey Andy Putman |
off topic | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:42 | comment | added | Unknown | @Mariano Suárez-Alvarez, isn't math I searched for and understood, math I know? They do not know whether you searched for it or you knew it long ago. It seems that this discussion forces other to think that I am summoning help in order to cheat interviewers, which is not what I am doing. To be honest, they did not ask any such thing. But in my preparation, I hypothesized that such questions were to be asked. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:34 | comment | added | Mariano Suárez-Álvarez | @Elohemahab, if I were conducting the interview and asked that question (I doubt I would...) the idea would be to find out what maths you know, not wat you searched for. I am pretty sure I could tell the difference between the two with a few more questions! | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:31 | comment | added | Unknown | @Qiaochu, all candidates were students on good standing in the department( with little differences in CGPA.). The only option for the department, I suppose, was to test their 'beyond-class' knowledge of Mathematics. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:27 | history | edited | Denis Serre | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
edited body
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| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:27 | comment | added | Unknown | @Pete. (1)I have already been interviewed. What baffles me is what I could have presented had I time to search for more. (2) I have not even implicitly asked for somebody's motivation for being a mathematician. I am sorry for the ambiguity my comment above created. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:25 | comment | added | Qiaochu Yuan | I agree with Pete but could not find a good way to say it. It seems to me that in light of your interview you should be trying to figure out how to become a better candidate rather than finding ways to trick the hiring committee, or whatever, into thinking you are a better candidate than you are? | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:20 | comment | added | Suvrit | It is not clear to me what really this list will achieve. Also, by "unpopular" you mean "not well-known" rather than "not popular." The former would have been a more interesting list! | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:15 | history | edited | Unknown |
tag
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| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:14 | comment | added | Unknown | @Spiro, this tag has no precedent. But I will change it to "General-Math". | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:08 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | Even granting the somewhat strange motivation of this question: isn't it self-defeating? Whatever gets posted here will become much more widely known. Moreover, I find it somehow dishonest to get examples of one's mathematical knowledge and enthusiasm from others on the internet. I am voting to close. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:07 | comment | added | Spiro Karigiannis | Okay, in that case it makes sense. But I would remove the "interview" tag because I think it's implicit that "interview" refers to interviews for tenure-track academic jobs. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:02 | comment | added | Unknown | @ Litt, sorry, edited. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:01 | comment | added | Todd Trimble | (Sorry, Elohemahab -- I didn't see your reply before I posted.) | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:01 | history | edited | Unknown | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
content
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| Jan 3, 2011 at 14:00 | comment | added | Todd Trimble | Have to agree with Spiro; it seems like an odd thing to prepare for a job interview, unless you had some reason to believe you'd be asked this. I would think a more reasonable question along these lines is: what are some nice applications of elementary theorems that you can explain to undergraduates? (Example I have in mind is coin-flipping protocols that involve the structure of the product of two finite fields.) Just citing results however seems kinda dull... | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 13:57 | comment | added | Unknown | I am a student there and the faculty wanted to recruit tutors for freshmen/sophomores. But their selection criteria was not only ability to do the tutoring but they also wanted to know whether the applicant wants to continue a career in Mathematics, how he can entice/encourage his juniors to go on studying Math, what Math field he delights in, etc. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 13:46 | comment | added | Daniel Litt | Perhaps I am wrong, but I think your first example is extremely well-known; it's in Alfohrs, for example. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 13:45 | comment | added | Spiro Karigiannis | I guess I assumed it was an interview for a faculty position, but maybe it was some other kind of job? | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 13:44 | comment | added | Spiro Karigiannis | Why did you expect to be asked to state interesting elementary theorems at your job interview? It's not like a thesis defense. You tell them what you know, not what they would like you to know. | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 13:43 | answer | added | Andrey Rekalo | timeline score: 7 | |
| Jan 3, 2011 at 13:31 | history | asked | Unknown | CC BY-SA 2.5 |