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59 votes
10 answers
12k views

What do you do when you're stuck?

I'm pretty sure almost all mathematicians have been in a situation where they found an interesting problem; they thought of many different ideas to tackle the problem, but in all of these ideas, there ...
36 votes
15 answers
10k views

Is pure mathematics useful outside of mathematics itself? [closed]

From time to time Mathoverflow allows soft questions because they are arguably best answered by active mathematicians and they can benefit other mathematicians/PhD students/math undergraduates. I ...
29 votes
5 answers
5k views

Collaboration or acknowledgment?

This post is a sequel of: When should a supervisor be a co-author? This time the topic is about the interaction between two professional mathematicians (in particular junior-senior, but not ...
15 votes
6 answers
2k views

What does keep you "doing what you do"? [closed]

I am towards the end of my Phd (with some difficultues to overcome, I can say I am really satisfied about it) and I was wondering about what to do next. There are basically two paths: academia or ...
M.S.L.'s user avatar
  • 835
7 votes
5 answers
3k views

What does a mathematician expect from mathematics education? [closed]

Consider that my question is not a personal and/or subjective question. Perhaps, you have hired a mathematics educator in your department and you are interested in finding a way to communicate with ...
2 votes
0 answers
382 views

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 ...
Riri's user avatar
  • 31
-4 votes
1 answer
551 views

Amount of mathematical knowledge required for starting Ph.D. in pure mathematics [closed]

How much mathematics should one know before starting a Ph.D. program in pure mathematics? For example what topics one must understand well to pursue a Ph.D. in US University in Number Theory (...
SARTHAK GUPTA's user avatar