All Questions
13,928 questions
11
votes
2
answers
932
views
A group action of the Heisenberg group with special symmetries
Suppose we look at the Heisenberg group $H_{d}$ as a matrix group of upper triangular matrices over the ring $\mathbb{Z}/d\mathbb{Z}$. You can even choose $d$ to be prime if you want. A natural ...
7
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How can we count lines in an n-x-n rectangular array?
Is there a formula for the number of lines that contain exactly two points through an n x n rectangular array of points?
- 79
9
votes
5
answers
870
views
Abelianization of GL(H)
This is related to Theo's question about the abelianizations of finite dimensionsal Lie groups.
I am interested in a specific (infinite-dimensional) case of the above question. Let H be an infinite-...
- 629
9
votes
1
answer
611
views
opposite Banach space
I heard this from Haskell Rosenthal many years ago.
If V is a complex vector space, say the opposite of V is the complex vector space with the same elements, the same operations except switch scalar ...
- 41.1k
20
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Minkowski sum of small connected sets
Suppose that the convex hull of the Minkowski sum of several compact connected sets in $\mathbb R^d$ contains the unit ball centered at the origin and the diameter of each set is less than $\delta$. ...
- 61.9k
12
votes
3
answers
530
views
Making an l_2 distance out of l_1 distance
If we think of the l1 distance as a grid-distance between points, then we can think of l2 distance as what we get when we "shortcut" the grid by going "inside" a cell.
Making the grid finer doesn't ...
- 4,462
21
votes
2
answers
2k
views
In a Banach algebra, do ab and ba have almost the same exponential spectrum?
Let $A$ be a complex Banach algebra with identity 1. Define the exponential spectrum $e(x)$ of an element $x\in A$ by $$e(x)= \{\lambda\in\mathbb{C}: x-\lambda1 \notin G_1(A)\},$$ where $G_1(A)$ is ...
- 2,154
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to find the Fermat Point using the construction of the tangent to ellipse?
Be done the triangle ABC, it is known the method to finding the point Q that minimises the sum QA+QB+QC among all points Q in the plane (The Fermat point).
I want a hint for solving this problem using ...
- 43
15
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Use of n-transitivity in finite group theory
Hello, apparently finite groups which are n-transitive with n>5 are only the permutation groups Sn or the alternating groups An+2, see e.g. page 226 this book by Isaacs http://books.google.fr/books?...
- 2,901
12
votes
3
answers
707
views
A "round" lattice with low kissing number?
Historically, the lattices with high density were studied intensively, e.g. E_8 lattice or Leech Lattice. However, there are situations that lattices with low kissing number are required. Specifically,...
- 139
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Hilbert Space as direct sum of subspaces with cyclic vectors
Ok,so this should be easy, however I havent taken functional analysis for a while. But given a compact self-adjoint operator on a hilbert space H(over the complex numbers), we define v to be a cyclic ...
- 31
9
votes
1
answer
395
views
Is there a coalgebraic characterisation of the hyperfinite II_1 factor?
Peter Freyd showed that the real interval [0, 1] is a final coalgebra for a functor on sets equipped with two points, which sends such a set to the 'wedge' of two copies of itself, identifying the ...
- 5,094
3
votes
1
answer
914
views
Range of a Certain Linear Operator
Consider the following hermitian form on the sobolev space H^1(I), of an interval I:
g(u,v):= \int_I (du/dt dv/dt - \rho(t) u v)dt, where \rho is a nice bounded function on I.
Riesz representation ...
- 31
3
votes
2
answers
384
views
High dimensional Steiner tree
Given n affinely independent points in n-1 dimensional Euclidean space, how is the minimum Steiner tree constructed? Or assuming that the topology of the Steiner tree is given, is there an easy way ...
- 31
40
votes
5
answers
10k
views
Is there a natural measures on the space of measurable functions?
Given a set Ω and a σ-algebra F of subsets, is there some natural way to assign something like a "uniform" measure on the space of all measurable functions on this space? (I suppose first ...
- 1,475
21
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Isomorphisms of Banach Spaces
Suppose $X$ and $Y$ are Banach spaces whose dual spaces are isometrically isomorphic. It is certainly true that $X$ and $Y$ need not be isometrically isomorphic, but must it be true that there is a ...
- 629
8
votes
3
answers
698
views
L_p norm balls for 1<p<2 - is it always similar to an L_q norm ball for some q>2?
The L_1 ball in 2D is shaped like a diamond (L_1 is also known as the Manhattan norm). The L_∞ ball is shaped like a square (L_∞ is also known as the supremum norm). They are similar, i.e. have same ...
- 101
7
votes
6
answers
2k
views
How to partition R^3 into pairwise non-parallel lines?
Problem. How to partition R^3 into pairwise non-parallel lines?
A possible solution is to stack infinitely many ``concentric'' hyperboloids, by increasing radius and decreasing slope. And don't forget ...
- 1,110
23
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Is there a topological description of combinatorial Euler characteristic?
There are a collection of definitions of "combinatorial Euler characteristic", which is different from the "homotopy Euler characteristic". I will describe a few of them and give some references, and ...
- 54.6k
6
votes
3
answers
982
views
Boolean network as a gauge field
Consider a set of N binary-state nodes at "time" t, each of which is a (boolean) transition function of two nodes in the set, evaluated at time t-1. Thus there are N of these boolean functions of two ...
- 85
11
votes
4
answers
608
views
What is the right way to think about / represent general tilings?
For periodic/symmetric tilings, it seems somewhat "obvious" to me that it just comes down to working out the right group of symmetries for each of the relevant shapes/tiles, but its not clear to me if ...
44
votes
11
answers
26k
views
Algorithm for finding the volume of a convex polytope
It's easy to find the area of a convex polygon by division into triangles, but what is the optimal way of finding the volume of higher-dimensional convex bodies? I tried a few methods for dividing ...
- 441
22
votes
5
answers
3k
views
How does one find the "loneliest person on the planet"?
I'm looking for the algorithm that efficiently locates the "loneliest person on the planet", where "loneliest" is defined as:
Maximum minimum distance to another person — that is, ...
- 331
5
votes
1
answer
586
views
a general theory of configurations?
Once I found by accident an article by MacPherson: "Classical projective geometry and modular varieties", in "Algebraic analysis, geometry, and number theory" (Baltimore, MD, 1988), whose introduction ...
- 10.8k
2
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Closest grid square to a point in spherical coordinates
I am programming an algorithm where I have broken up the surface of a sphere into grid points (for simplicity I have the grid lines are parallel and perpendicular to the meridians). Given a point A on ...
- 386
2
votes
1
answer
493
views
Convergence of Affine Transformations
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could point me to any sources regarding the convergence of iterated affine transformation, i.e. sequences where {a_n} is a set of affine transforms and the sequence:
...
- 690
32
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Largest hyperbolic disk embeddable in Euclidean 3-space?
Hilbert proved that there's no complete regular ($C^k$ for sufficiently large $k$) isometric embedding of the hyperbolic plane into $\mathbb{R}^3$. On the other hand, the pseudosphere is locally ...
- 13.6k
12
votes
4
answers
877
views
Can you describe the image of the exponential map $B(H)\to B(H)$?
James Tener asks at the 20-questions seminar:
The exponential map $\exp:B(H)\to B(H)$ is just defined by its Taylor series. Can you describe its image?
- 1,059