All Questions
22,546 questions
394
votes
115
answers
110k
views
Not especially famous, long-open problems which anyone can understand
Question: I'm asking for a big list of not especially famous, long open problems that anyone can understand. Community wiki, so one problem per answer, please.
Motivation: I plan to use this list in ...
296
votes
8
answers
143k
views
Philosophy behind Mochizuki's work on the ABC conjecture
Mochizuki has recently announced a proof of the ABC conjecture. It is far too early to judge its correctness, but it builds on many years of work by him. Can someone briefly explain the philosophy ...
263
votes
29
answers
89k
views
Mathematical games interesting to both you and a 5+-year-old child
Background: My daughter is 6 years old now, once I wanted to think on some math (about some Young diagrams), but she wanted to play with me...
How to make both of us to do what they want ? I guess ...
252
votes
37
answers
179k
views
Best algebraic geometry textbook? (other than Hartshorne)
I think (almost) everyone agrees that Hartshorne's Algebraic Geometry is still the best.
Then what might be the 2nd best?
It can be a book, preprint, online lecture note, webpage, etc.
One suggestion ...
234
votes
16
answers
57k
views
What elementary problems can you solve with schemes?
I'm a graduate student who's been learning about schemes this year from the usual sources (e.g. Hartshorne, Eisenbud-Harris, Ravi Vakil's notes). I'm looking for some examples of elementary self-...
222
votes
8
answers
35k
views
How to memorise (understand) Nakayama's lemma and its corollaries?
Nakayama's lemma is mentioned in the majority of books on algebraic geometry that treat varieties. So I think Ihave read the formulation of this lemma at least 20 times (and read the proof maybe ...
- 14.3k
182
votes
33
answers
32k
views
What should be learned in a first serious schemes course?
I've just finished teaching a year-long "foundations of algebraic
geometry" class. It
was my third time teaching it, and my notes are gradually converging.
I've enjoyed it for a number of reasons (...
158
votes
8
answers
7k
views
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 ...
157
votes
11
answers
21k
views
Why are flat morphisms "flat?"
Of course "flatness" is a word that evokes a very particular geometric picture, and it seems to me like there should be a reason why this word is used, but nothing I can find gives me a reason!
Is ...
- 12.6k
156
votes
4
answers
12k
views
Analytic tools in algebraic geometry
This is not a very precise question, but I hope it will get some good answers.
As someone with a background in smooth manifold theory, I have experienced algebraic geometry as a beautiful but foreign ...
- 55.9k
154
votes
7
answers
85k
views
Where to buy premium white chalk in the U.S., like they have at RIMS? [closed]
While not a research-level math question, I'm sure this is a question of interest to many research-level mathematicians, whose expertise I seek.
At RIMS (in Kyoto) in 2005, they had the best white ...
150
votes
31
answers
70k
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 ...
150
votes
2
answers
22k
views
What is a Frobenioid?
Since there will be a long digression in a moment, let me start by reassuring you that my intention really is to ask the question in the title.
Recently, there has been a flurry of new discussion ...
- 13.6k
141
votes
0
answers
13k
views
Grothendieck-Teichmüller conjecture
(1) In "Esquisse d'un programme", Grothendieck conjectures
Grothendieck-Teichmüller conjecture: the morphism
$$
G_{\mathbb{Q}} \longrightarrow Aut(\widehat{T})
$$
is an isomorphism.
Here $...
- 7,527
140
votes
0
answers
10k
views
Grothendieck -sad news [closed]
Sorry for that this is not a real question. But I thought people would like to know.
Alexandre Grothendieck died today: http://www.liberation.fr/sciences/2014/11/13/alexandre-grothendieck-ou-la-mort-...
135
votes
6
answers
23k
views
what mistakes did the Italian algebraic geometers actually make?
It's "well-known" that the 19th century Italian school of algebraic geometry made great progress but also started to flounder due to lack of rigour, possibly in part due to the fact that foundations (...
- 41.4k
129
votes
15
answers
51k
views
A learning roadmap for algebraic geometry
Unfortunately this question is relatively general, and also has a lot of sub-questions and branches associated with it; however, I suspect that other students wonder about it and thus hope it may be ...
129
votes
2
answers
16k
views
What are the shapes of rational functions?
I would like to understand and compute the shapes of rational functions, that is, holomorphic maps of the Riemann sphere to itself, or equivalently, ratios of two polynomials, up to Moebius ...
- 25.1k
123
votes
25
answers
18k
views
"Mathematics talk" for five year olds
I am trying to prepare a "mathematics talk" for five year olds from my daughter's elementary school. I have given many mathematics talks in my life but this one feels
very tough to prepare. Could the ...
116
votes
2
answers
31k
views
Why is the Hodge Conjecture so important?
The Hodge Conjecture states that every Hodge class of a non singular projective variety over $\mathbf{C}$ is a rational linear combination of cohomology classes of algebraic cycles: Even though I'm ...
- 1,263
114
votes
34
answers
86k
views
Why do we teach calculus students the derivative as a limit?
I'm not teaching calculus right now, but I talk to someone who does, and the question that came up is why emphasize the $h \to 0$ definition of a derivative to calculus students?
Something a teacher ...
109
votes
28
answers
41k
views
Why should one still teach Riemann integration?
In the introduction to chapter VIII of Dieudonné's Foundations of Modern Analysis (Volume 1 of his 13-volume Treatise on Analysis), he makes the following argument:
Finally, the reader will ...
108
votes
7
answers
21k
views
What is the field with one element?
I've heard of this many times, but I don't know anything about it.
What I do know is that it is supposed to solve the problem of the fact that the final object in the category of schemes is one-...
- 5,062
107
votes
8
answers
15k
views
What do heat kernels have to do with the Riemann-Roch theorem and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem?
I know the following facts. (Don't assume I know much more than the following facts.)
The Atiyah-Singer index theorem generalizes both the Riemann-Roch theorem and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem.
The ...
- 118k
103
votes
13
answers
37k
views
How misleading is it to regard $\frac{dy}{dx}$ as a fraction?
I am teaching Calc I, for the first time, and I haven't seriously revisited the subject in quite some time. An interesting pedagogy question came up: How misleading is it to regard $\frac{dy}{dx}$ as ...
103
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Why do combinatorial abstractions of geometric objects behave so well?
This question is inspired by a talk of June Huh from the recent "Current Developments in Mathematics" conference.
Here are two examples of the kind of combinatorial abstractions of geometric ...
- 24.2k
102
votes
6
answers
11k
views
Is there an analogue of curvature in algebraic geometry?
I am not an expert, but there seems to be an enormous technical difference between algebraic geometry and differential/metric geometry stemming from the fact that there is apparently no such thing as ...
- 29.2k
101
votes
2
answers
11k
views
Riemann hypothesis via absolute geometry
Several leading mathematicians (e.g. Yuri Manin) have written or said publicly that there is a known outline of a likely natural proof of the Riemann hypothesis using absolute algebraic geometry over ...
- 5,232
98
votes
10
answers
14k
views
equivalence of Grothendieck-style versus Cech-style sheaf cohomology
Given a topological space $X$, we can define the sheaf cohomology of $X$ in
I. the Grothendieck style (as the right derived functor of the global sections functor $\Gamma(X,-)$)
or
II. the Čech ...
- 1,871
97
votes
19
answers
38k
views
Collecting proofs that finite multiplicative subgroups of fields are cyclic
I teach elementary number theory and discrete mathematics to students who come with no abstract algebra. I have found proving the key theorem that finite multiplicative subgroups of fields are cyclic ...
96
votes
4
answers
5k
views
A curious relation between angles and lengths of edges of a tetrahedron
Consider a Euclidean tetrahedron with lengths of edges
$$
l_{12}, l_{13}, l_{14}, l_{23}, l_{24}, l_{34}
$$
and dihedral angles
$$
\alpha_{12}, \alpha_{13}, \alpha_{14},
\alpha_{23}, \alpha_{24}, \...
- 4,316
93
votes
20
answers
10k
views
Short papers for undergraduate course on reading scholarly math
(I know this is perhaps only tangentially related to mathematics research, but I'm hoping it is worthy of consideration as a community wiki question.)
Today, I was reminded of the existence of this ...
93
votes
0
answers
17k
views
Hironaka's proof of resolution of singularities in positive characteristics
Recent publication of Hironaka seems to provoke extended discussions, like Atiyah's proof of almost complex structure of $S^6$ earlier...
Unlike Atiyah's paper, Hironaka's paper does not have a ...
- 8,071
89
votes
5
answers
16k
views
Why higher category theory?
This is a soft question.
I am an undergrad and is currently seriously considering the field of math I am going into in grad school. (perhaps a little bit late, but it's better late then never.) I ...
87
votes
15
answers
37k
views
The importance of EGA and SGA for "students of today"
That fact that EGA and SGA have played mayor roles is uncontroversial. But they contain many volumes/chapters and going through them would take a lot of time, especially if you do not speak French.
...
87
votes
12
answers
12k
views
Why do we make such big deal about the 'unsolvability' of the quintic?
The unsolvability of a general quintic equation in terms of the basic arithmetic operations and $n$th roots (i.e. the Abel–Ruffini theorem) is considered a major result in the mathematical canon. I ...
- 1,389
87
votes
2
answers
4k
views
History of $\frac d{dt}\tan^{-1}(t)=\frac 1{1+t^2}$
Let $\theta = \tan^{-1}(t)$. Nowadays it is taught:
1º that
$$
\frac{d\theta}{dt} = \frac 1{dt\,/\,d\theta} = \frac 1{1+t^2},
\tag1
$$
2º that, via the fundamental theorem of calculus, this is ...
- 31.5k
86
votes
44
answers
21k
views
Demystifying complex numbers
At the end of this month I start teaching complex analysis to
2nd year undergraduates, mostly from engineering but some from
science and maths. The main applications for them in future
studies are ...
86
votes
13
answers
24k
views
How has modern algebraic geometry affected other areas of math?
I have a friend who is very biased against algebraic geometry altogether. He says it's because it's about polynomials and he hates polynomials. I try to tell him about modern algebraic geometry, ...
86
votes
16
answers
9k
views
Teaching homology via everyday examples
What stories, puzzles, games, paradoxes, toys, etc from everyday life are better understood after learning homology theory?
To be more precise, I am teaching a short course on homology, from ...
86
votes
4
answers
15k
views
Etale cohomology -- Why study it?
I know (at least I think I know) that some of the main motivating problems in the development of etale cohomology were the Weil conjectures. I'd like to know what other problems one can solve using ...
- 2,799
84
votes
12
answers
21k
views
Is Euclid dead?
Apparently Euclid died about 2,300 years ago (actually 2,288 to be more precise), but the title of the question refers to the rallying cry of Dieudonné, "A bas Euclide! Mort aux triangles!" (...
84
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Is there a complex surface into which every Riemann surface embeds?
This question was previously asked on Math SE.
Every Riemann surface can be embedded in some complex projective space. In fact, every Riemann surface $\Sigma$ admits an embedding $\varphi : \Sigma \...
- 19.3k
83
votes
5
answers
13k
views
how does one understand GRR? (Grothendieck Riemann Roch)
I tried to answer an earlier question as to uses of GRR, just from my reading, although i do not understand GRR. Today i tried to understand the possible idea behind GRR. After editing my answer ...
- 12.4k
81
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Did Gelfand's theory of commutative Banach algebras influence algebraic geometers?
Guillemin and Sternberg wrote the following in 1987 in a short article called "Some remarks on I.M. Gelfand's works" accompanying Gelfand's Collected Papers, Volume I:
The theory of commutative ...
- 7,329
80
votes
23
answers
19k
views
Algebraic geometry examples
What are some surprising or memorable examples in algebraic geometry, suitable for a course I'll be teaching on chapters 1-2 of Hartshorne (varieties, introductory schemes)?
I'd prefer examples that ...
80
votes
15
answers
15k
views
Why torsion is important in (co)homology ?
I've once been told that "torsion in homology and cohomology is regarded by topologists as a very deep and important phenomenon". I presume an analogous statement could be said in the context of ...
80
votes
7
answers
20k
views
Teaching statements for math jobs?
What is the purpose of the "teaching statement" or "statement of teaching philosophy" when applying for jobs, specifically math postdocs? I am applying for jobs, and I need to write one of these ...
80
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Vladimir Voevodsky's works
Vladimir Voevodsky has made several contributions in abstract algebraic geometry, focused on the homotopy theory of schemes, algebraic K-theory, and interrelations between algebraic geometry, and ...
79
votes
9
answers
21k
views
Results that are widely accepted but no proof has appeared
The background of this question is the talk given by Kevin Buzzard.
I could not find the slides of that talk. The slides of another talk given by Kevin Buzzard along the same theme are available here.
...