Questions tagged [convention]

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How expensive is a proximal operation?

In optimization, a proximal step is usually considered as cheap as a gradient step. I'm quite confused by this. Why are people taking this convention at all? A typical proximal step indeed incurs a ...
T. W.'s user avatar
  • 31
1 vote
2 answers
240 views

Should mixed strategies in normal form games be interpreted as measurable functions or probability vectors?

I have recently been stuck trying to understand how game theorists extend a normal form game (matrix game) into a game with mixed strategies (so called mixed extension). I feel like I am missing ...
Norman's user avatar
  • 125
4 votes
0 answers
657 views

Counting loops in degree: 1 or 2?

Here's what seems to be an annoying technicality when dealing with loops in graphs. In the literature on expander graphs (and surely not only), it seems to be the convention that a loop at vertex $v$ ...
amakelov's user avatar
  • 987
30 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 ...
49 votes
9 answers
6k views

What recent programmes to alter highly-entrenched mathematical terminology have succeeded, and under what conditions do they tend to succeed or fail?

I think we all occasionally come across terminology that we'd like to see supplanted (e.g. by something more systematic). What I'd like to know is, under what circumstances is it reasonable to believe ...
2 votes
0 answers
171 views

Naming ambiguity in constructive pointwise natural transformations and whiskering

In the HoTT Book, the choice is made to talk about whiskering, rather than horizontal composition, because horizontal composition is ambiguous and only defined up to paths. Naturally, there is left ...
Jason Gross's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
323 views

Name convention for the composition of the preimage of a function and the function itself

Hi, given a function $f:X \rightarrow Y$, not necessarily invertible, is there a conventional name for the function $$g_f := f^{-1} \circ f:X \rightarrow \mathcal{P}(X),$$ where $\mathcal{P}(X)$ ...
tortortor's user avatar
  • 207
33 votes
10 answers
6k views

Is the empty graph a tree?

This is a boring, technical question that I stumbled upon while making a contribution to Sage. I would still like to hear a constructive answer so hopefully the question does not get closed. The ...
Jernej's user avatar
  • 3,433
2 votes
2 answers
568 views

What is a canonical set of representatives in $GL(n,F)$ for the vertices in the Bruhat Tits building?

$F$ is a non archimedean field here. To be more precise, I would actually prefer a set of representative in $B(F)$ for the discrete space $B(F) / B(o)Z(F)$? This can be phrased also as question about ...
Marc Palm's user avatar
  • 11.1k
21 votes
2 answers
2k views

What is due diligence when translating a paper?

EDIT: Part of the community has decided on a less catchy and more representative title than "Socially acceptable plagiarism (with regards to translation)". Let's run with that for a while. GRP.10.27 ...
24 votes
8 answers
39k views

A symbol to denote the set of prime numbers ?

It strikes me that there is no widely accepted symbol to denote the set of usual prime numbers in $\mathbb{N}$. Look: $$\zeta(s)=\prod_{p\in \mathrm{?}}\frac{1}{(1-p^{-s})}$$ Wouldn't it be nicer ...
52 votes
20 answers
27k views

Math paper authors' order

It seems in writing math papers collaborators put their names in the alphabetical order of their last name. Is this a universal accepted norm? I could not find a place putting this down formally.
7 votes
5 answers
1k views

Can a corollary follow a conjecture?

It is typical to find a corollary that following theorems, but is it right to use the word corollary for a statement following a conjecture, where the statement is true only if the unproven conjecture ...