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].
156
questions
52
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Publishing a bad paper?
First, I apologize if mathoverflow is a bad fit for this question, but it is the only place where I can think to get advice from professionals given my circumstance. I'm also sorry about any vagueness ...
17
votes
2
answers
5k
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Training towards research on birational geometry/minimal model program
Being a not yet enrolled independently supervised graduate student in mathematics, with prospects of applying to American graduate schools hopefully in a 1-2 years' time, I have a background of having ...
- 1,285
92
votes
7
answers
18k
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Lost soul: loneliness in pursing math. Advice needed. [closed]
This is a atypical question for the forum. I'd like to get some advice on whether I should keep pursuing Math in the traditional route, i.e. get a PhD, do research & teach, etc.
Due to financial ...
28
votes
2
answers
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When should I publish my results?
I just finish my masters thesis, and I was told by one of the referees that I should publish some of the results in there. However I feel that I mainly repeat arguments by other people in a slightly ...
17
votes
3
answers
4k
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Contacting an eminent mathematician
I have recently started a PhD. and am researching an area that two now eminent mathematicians devoted considerable time to in the 1980s. However, there appears to have been fairly moderate focus on ...
17
votes
2
answers
2k
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Submitting papers “out of logical order” due to different review times or rejections
I am asking this question anonymously and apologize for the paranoia.
Suppose you submit a paper on a topic and, while the paper is under review, continue to work on the topic and make enough progress ...
27
votes
2
answers
2k
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How to balance writing professionally and being able to have a conversation with your reader?
Background.
I am someone at the very very beginning stages of my career as a mathematician, and am, for example, almost ready to (re)submit my first paper. I have already read a lot of essays on how ...
23
votes
3
answers
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How to assess research "impact" for tenure/promotion committees
Over the last several years, the college-level promotion & tenure committee at my university has increasingly been seeking to apply "objective" criteria for assessing the impact of candidates' ...
13
votes
2
answers
2k
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Problems with Journal Submissions due to arXiv Submission? [closed]
Hello,
I wanted to ask people if they know of any journals that will not accept papers for submission if they have been already posted on arxiv. I am personally interested in Logic Journals, but ...
9
votes
1
answer
813
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How would you cite a result that it is not quite correct, but whose proof contains some useful ideas
There is a paper that was published 15 years ago; one of the theorems in it is wrong in general. A few years ago some people told the author that this theorem is wrong as stated, but yet a partial ...
4
votes
4
answers
667
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2 short article vs. a long one [closed]
Hi,
I am a beginning mathematician and I need some publishing advice. I have some results obtained during my PhD research and I was wondering about the best way to publish them.
My initial intuition ...
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17
votes
2
answers
5k
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How to make the move to a research university from a liberal arts school?
Some mathematicians are in positions that emphasize teaching at predominantly undergraduate colleges but find themselves desiring positions at research universities. This may happen because their ...
6
votes
2
answers
1k
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Should I write to the referee? [closed]
I have submitted a paper to a good journal about 3 months ago. Now I have realized that there is a mistake in the paper. Now I have completely corrected it. It is not a very serious error, but I ...
26
votes
5
answers
3k
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Presenting work in progress [closed]
At some point in the evolution of a project, one has to decide when to start talking about it in seminars and at conferences. I am interested in hearing about how other mathematicians make this ...
7
votes
0
answers
1k
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Advice on submission of a paper. [closed]
Dear all,
I just received a letter from editors of one of top journals, saying
"Though the expert consulted felt that your paper, "is a solid paper,"
the expert did not recommend publication in ...
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8
votes
3
answers
2k
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Switching tenure-track position [closed]
I have a tenure-track position at a research university (among top 20 in USA) in a decent city. This has been my fourth year as a tenure-track. I still have not heard from my department regarding the ...
5
votes
7
answers
3k
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Resubmitting a paper
(Hopefully this question is not too "soft": I asked it at math.stackexchange.com recently and was advised to ask it here instead).
I submitted a paper to quite a low-rated journal (impact factor ...
31
votes
2
answers
5k
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A question about rejected journal submissions, similar results, and discrepancies between the order of submission and the order of publication [closed]
Today I just received the decision of my paper from a journal. The paper was submitted last December and my paper is kind of long (about 40 pages), so I think it's reasonable to take such a long time ...
75
votes
7
answers
18k
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What items MUST appear on a mathematician's CV?
Writing a CV makes me paranoid that I'm failing to abide by unwritten rules. Of course CVs are flexible to capture the diversity of accomplishments someone might have. But there must be plenty of ...
16
votes
4
answers
2k
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How important is it for one on the job market to have thought about suitable REU projects?
An REU is a "Research Experience for Undergraduates" and entails undergrads (usually after their junior year) coming for 8-10 weeks out of the summer to University X to learn about and work on a ...
18
votes
4
answers
4k
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Maiden Names vs. Married Names
Is there a set convention for which name (maiden name or married name) a female married mathematician should use?
While this question addresses women's maiden name it applies equally to men's maiden ...
49
votes
3
answers
13k
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how to use arxiv?
This is a soft question. How do people usually use arxiv to put their papers? At which stage does one usually put his/her paper/report there? Someone suggests me to submit a paper while putting it on ...
15
votes
1
answer
889
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Mathematical etiquette: Rephrasing / restructuring a work, limited release (with attribution) acceptable?
I am reading a mathematics textbook (which one is irrelevant, and I do not wish to insult the author if (s)he happens to be reading this). One section relies quite a bit on an appendix and results ...
7
votes
8
answers
4k
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Mathematical Advice for Interested Highschool Students
This may not be a research level math question, but I believe it is still relevant to Math Overflow.
What general resources exist for students in highschool who are very interested in Mathematics?...
18
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14
answers
3k
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Teaching a pedagogy course
At my institution incoming graduate students must take a semester long course on pedagogy taught by current grad students. I may soon be in the position of having to teach this course and I'm looking ...
158
votes
8
answers
6k
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Resources for mathematics advising.
This question is possibly ill-advised. (If it is not right for this site I will delete it.)
I, suddenly, have students.
It is very clear to me that there is nothing in my education that has ...
10
votes
5
answers
2k
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Is it OK for a referee to acknowledge identity with a previous referee?
As with this older related question, question anonymous for obvious reasons.
If I have been asked to review the same paper twice, is it OK to acknowledge in my review that I am the same person as one ...
11
votes
7
answers
5k
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How to/Can you get a PhD position when you need more experience first?
My friend loves mathematics and wants to continue research as a
mathematics PhD student, but this doesn't seem possible!
She did a prestigious but inadequate bachelors program (almost no math) and
...
54
votes
8
answers
6k
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Proper way to deal with papers you've already refereed.
This question is anonymous for obvious reasons.
I referee what feels like a decent number of papers (though I don't know how many is normal!), and I try to take it seriously. Sometimes, based on ...
29
votes
9
answers
4k
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Can breadth hurt a job candidate? [closed]
I am a junior mathematician, currently on the job market. I have been involved in a number of projects spread over several very different topics of mathematics, some being very mathematical projects ...
45
votes
3
answers
19k
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Submission of a paper with a serious error to a good journal
I recently obtained (or so I thought) a good result, and after a month of reading and rereading what I'd written, submitted my paper to a very good journal. I'm early in my career (got my Ph.D. a few ...
53
votes
16
answers
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Undergraduate math research
I believe this is the right place to ask this, so I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on research at the undergraduate level.
I was recently accepted into the McNair Scholars program. It ...
24
votes
5
answers
7k
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Moving to academia from industry
I hope that the following question is suitable for MO. There have been several others in a similar vein, including this one about moving from maths into industry, this one about careers advice for ...
7
votes
2
answers
3k
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Does it ever make sense NOT to go to the most prestigious grad school you can get into? [closed]
I'm a senior undergrad at a top-ish(say, top 15) math school. I'm a solid, not stellar, student. This year I'm taking the qualifying exam grad courses in algebra and analysis and have been taken aback ...
331
votes
16
answers
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What's a mathematician to do?
I have to apologize because this is not the normal sort of question for this site, but there have been times in the past where MO was remarkably helpful and kind to undergrads with similar types of ...
6
votes
5
answers
5k
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Technical phd after 33 [closed]
Is it a good idea to get a math/stats/theoretical cs phd after 33 in the hope of becoming a professor? I am an electrical engineer who did his phd in EE at a low ranked school. I have been working in ...
36
votes
3
answers
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What counts as an 'invited' talk?
When you write your CV, what do you count as an invited talk? Does it count if you're invited but not provided funding (this has happened to me several times at AMS special sessions)? What if someone ...
9
votes
1
answer
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How common is it for universities to create new positions for dual hires?
Let's say you happen to be a mathematician, and your spouse is also an academic and in a humanities field in which there are very few jobs advertised. Assuming that you can convince universities to ...
34
votes
3
answers
25k
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How to transition from pure math PhD to nonacademic career?
I'm finishing up a PhD in math and am thinking about options outside of academia. So far, I've really only focused on pure mathematics, but I have a year left of grad school. Suppose I am interested ...
174
votes
8
answers
19k
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How to escape the inclination to be a universalist or: How to learn to stop worrying and do some research.
As an undergraduate we are trained as mathematicians to be universalists. We are expected to embrace a wide spectrum of mathematics. Both algebra and analysis are presented on equal footing with ...
48
votes
4
answers
6k
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How much reading do you do before you attack a problem?
When going off on a tangent from your regular area, where, presumably, you have such mastery of all cutting-edge research from your routine reading that you hardly need to do any extra (if this is ...
9
votes
1
answer
2k
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website for jobs in applied or industrial mathematics (or financial math) [closed]
What are the websites for general position in applied or industrial mathematics(or financial mathematics) related jobs (that is if we have to find a non academic job temporarily) ?Thanks!
136
votes
14
answers
28k
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Careers advice for Ph.D.s without current postdocs or university jobs
Hi,
I'm sure I'm not the only Ph.D. mathematician on MO in serious need of career advice. I'm sure there will be other readers in similar situations, who will find any good advice very helpful. Can ...
22
votes
6
answers
3k
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Yet another 'roadmap' style request- a second bite of the cherry
Okay, so I know MO has had a recent proliferation of this kind of question, and I know MO is not really for this type of question (though I suspect perhaps this is a phenomenon that is likely to ...
6
votes
7
answers
12k
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Undergraduate approach to learning math [closed]
I am going into my sophomore year as an undergraduate and I would like to ask the more experienced folks a couple questions about learning math and related things. What are your experiences and advice ...
14
votes
2
answers
2k
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Source of wisdom on how to improve the ratio of time feeling fulfilled to time feeling frustrated in research?
I thought I remembered reading something along the lines of the following advice in Littlewood’s Miscellany, but it doesn't appear to be there.
Researchers spend the vast majority of
their time ...
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18
votes
5
answers
5k
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Advice on changing topic for thesis problem
I am starting to find my thesis problem not meaningful nor interesting and too technical. As I learn more mathematics I am finding myself attracted to other topics and only started on my intital ...
92
votes
4
answers
4k
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How do you select an interesting and reasonable problem for a student?
I am interested in how to select interesting yet reasonable problems for students to work on, either at Honours (that is, a research-based single year immediately after a degree) or PhD.
By this I ...
24
votes
3
answers
5k
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How do you make a good math research poster for a non-mathematical audience?
I have the opportunity to prepare a research poster for a non-mathematical, yet scientifically savvy audience, and I want to do it well. I have asked a few mathematicians, and I have heard the ...
16
votes
3
answers
2k
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What to expect from attending an ICM?
Since ICM 2010 is due to be held in Hyderabad next august, and since I never attended such an event, I am wondering if those MO users who did attend at least one ICM could share some of their wisdom (...