All Questions
13,944 questions
239
votes
14
answers
76k
views
Have any long-suspected irrational numbers turned out to be rational?
The history of proving numbers irrational is full of interesting stories, from the ancient proofs for $\sqrt{2}$, to Lambert's irrationality proof for $\pi$, to Roger Apéry's surprise demonstration ...
238
votes
10
answers
43k
views
If $f$ is infinitely differentiable then $f$ coincides with a polynomial
Let $f$ be an infinitely differentiable function on $[0,1]$ and suppose that for each $x \in [0,1]$ there is an integer $n \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $f^{(n)}(x)=0$. Then does $f$ coincide on $[0,1]$ ...
- 4,795
155
votes
4
answers
18k
views
Does there exist a bijection of $\mathbb{R}^n$ to itself such that the forward map is connected but the inverse is not?
Let $(X,\tau), (Y,\sigma)$ be two topological spaces. We say that a map $f: \mathcal{P}(X)\to \mathcal{P}(Y)$ between their power sets is connected if for every $S\subset X$ connected, $f(S)\subset Y$ ...
- 39k
152
votes
18
answers
24k
views
Why do we care about $L^p$ spaces besides $p = 1$, $p = 2$, and $p = \infty$?
I was helping a student study for a functional analysis exam and the question came up as to when, in practice, one needs to consider the Banach space $L^p$ for some value of $p$ other than the obvious ...
141
votes
17
answers
38k
views
Why is differentiating mechanics and integration art?
It is often said that "Differentiation is mechanics, integration is art." We have more or less simple rules in one direction but not in the other (e.g. product rule/simple <-> integration by parts/...
- 5,935
122
votes
5
answers
27k
views
Is the series $\sum_n|\sin n|^n/n$ convergent?
Problem. Is the series $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{|\sin(n)|^n}n$$convergent?
(The problem was posed on 22.06.2017 by Ph D students of H.Steinhaus Center of Wroclaw Polytechnica. The promised prize for ...
- 4,535
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 ...
107
votes
9
answers
36k
views
solving $f(f(x))=g(x)$
This question is of course inspired by the question How to solve f(f(x))=cosx
and Joel David Hamkins' answer, which somehow gives a formal trick for solving equations of the form $f(f(x))=g(x)$ on a ...
- 41.4k
106
votes
5
answers
10k
views
integral of a "sin-omial" coefficients=binomial
I find the following averaged-integral amusing and intriguing, to say the least. Is there any proof?
For any pair of integers $n\geq k\geq0$, we have
$$\frac1{\pi}\int_0^{\pi}\frac{\sin^n(x)}{\...
- 43.2k
102
votes
21
answers
15k
views
Proofs of the uncountability of the reals
Recently, I learnt in my analysis class the proof of the uncountability of the reals via the Nested Interval Theorem (Wayback Machine). At first, I was excited to see a variant proof (as it did not ...
- 2,855
94
votes
1
answer
11k
views
The mathematical theory of Feynman integrals
It is well known that Feynman integrals are one of the tools that physicists have and mathematicians haven't, sadly.
Arguably, they are the most important such tool. Briefly, the question I'd like to ...
- 23.5k
89
votes
7
answers
13k
views
If I exchange infinitely many digits of $\pi$ and $e$, are the two resulting numbers transcendental?
If I swap the digits of $\pi$ and $e$ in infinitely many places, I get two new numbers. Are these two numbers transcendental?
user10290
89
votes
1
answer
21k
views
Is the largest root of a random polynomial more likely to be real than complex?
This question might be hard because it got $35$ upvotes in MSE and also had a $200$ points bounty by Jyrki Lahtonen but it was unanswered. So I am posting it in MO.
The number of real roots of a ...
- 5,470
87
votes
8
answers
16k
views
Why is Lebesgue integration taught using positive and negative parts of functions?
Background: When I first took measure theory/integration, I was bothered by the idea that the integral of a real-valued function w.r.t. a measure was defined first for nonnegative functions and only ...
- 50.6k
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
81
votes
3
answers
9k
views
Norms of commutators
If an $n$ by $n$ complex matrix $A$ has trace zero, then it is a commutator, which means that there are $n$ by $n$ matrices $B$ and $C$ so that $A= BC-CB$. What is the order of the best constant $\...
- 31.5k
80
votes
4
answers
9k
views
Who first characterized the real numbers as the unique complete ordered field?
Nearly every mathematician nowadays is familiar with the fact that
there is up to isomorphism only one complete ordered field, the
real numbers.
Theorem. Any two complete ordered fields are isomorphic....
- 236k
78
votes
5
answers
8k
views
Does pointwise convergence imply uniform convergence on a large subset?
Suppose $f_n$ is a sequence of real valued functions on $[0,1]$ which converges pointwise to zero.
Is there an uncountable subset $A$ of $[0,1]$ so that $f_n$ converges uniformly on $A$?
Is there a ...
- 31.5k
77
votes
0
answers
4k
views
2, 3, and 4 (a possible fixed point result ?)
The question below is related to the classical Browder-Goehde-Kirk fixed point theorem.
Let $K$ be the closed unit ball of $\ell^{2}$, and let $T:K\rightarrow K$
be a mapping such that
$$\Vert Tx-Ty\...
- 4,060
74
votes
15
answers
18k
views
$f(f(x))=\exp(x)-1$ and other functions "just in the middle" between linear and exponential
The question is about the function $f(x)$ so that $f(f(x))=\exp (x)-1$.
The question is open ended and it was discussed quite recently in the comment thread in Aaronson's blog here http://...
- 24.7k
72
votes
9
answers
16k
views
Why do functions in complex analysis behave so well? (as opposed to functions in real analysis)
Complex analytic functions show rigid behavior while real-valued smooth functions are flexible. Why is this the case?
- 1,093
71
votes
16
answers
21k
views
Is there a nice application of category theory to functional/complex/harmonic analysis?
[Title changed, and wording of question tweaked, by YC, because the original title asked a question which seems different from the one people want to answer.]
I've read looked at the examples in most ...
71
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Barrelled, bornological, ultrabornological, semi-reflexive, ... how are these used?
I'm not a functional analyst (though I like to pretend that I am from time to time) but I use it and I think it's a great subject. But whenever I read about locally convex topological vector spaces, ...
- 26.8k
69
votes
3
answers
12k
views
Nonconvexity and discretization
Edit: Here's a more down-to-earth, and somewhat weakened, but I believe still nontrivial, version of the main theorem.
Prototypical nonconvex spaces are $\ell^p$-spaces for $0<p<1$, say $\ell^p(\...
- 21.3k
68
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Continuous maps which send intervals of $\mathbb{R}$ to convex subsets of $\mathbb{R}^2$
Let $f : \mathbb{R} \longrightarrow \mathbb{R}^2$ be a continuous map which sends any interval $I \subseteq \mathbb{R}$ to a convex subset $f(I)$ of $\mathbb{R}^2$. Is it true that there must be a ...
- 629
67
votes
9
answers
7k
views
Taking "Zooming in on a point of a graph" seriously
In calculus classes it is sometimes said that the tangent line to a curve at a point is the line that we get by "zooming in" on that point with an infinitely powerful microscope. This explanation ...
- 12.1k
66
votes
7
answers
10k
views
Why is the Hahn-Banach theorem so important?
Every time I hear it mentioned it is praised in the highest possible terms, and I remember one of my old lecturers saying that it is one of the 3 most important theorems in analysis. Yet the only ...
- 4,351
65
votes
9
answers
12k
views
Polish spaces in probability
Probabilists often work with Polish spaces, though it is not always very clear where this assumption is needed.
Question: What can go wrong when doing probability on non-Polish spaces?
- 651
65
votes
14
answers
6k
views
Notions of convergence not corresponding to topologies
This question concerns the ramifications of the following interesting problem that
appeared on Ed Nelson's final exam on Functional Analysis some years ago:
Exam question: Is there a metric on the ...
- 801
64
votes
8
answers
6k
views
Two (probably) equal real numbers which are not proved to be equal?
Can someone give me a nice example of two computable real numbers which are believed but not proved to be equal?
I never really understood the assertion that "the reals do not have decidable equality"...
63
votes
6
answers
12k
views
Why isn't integral defined as the area under the graph of function?
In order to define Lebesgue integral, we have to develop some measure theory. This takes some effort in the classroom, after which we need additional effort of defining Lebesgue integral (which also ...
- 1,229
63
votes
5
answers
10k
views
Jean Bourgain's relatively lesser known significant contributions
Jean Bourgain passed away on December 22, 2018.
A great mathematician is no longer with us.
Terry Tao has blogged about Bourgain's death and mentioned some of his more recent significant contributions,...
61
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Every real function has a dense set on which its restriction is continuous
The title says it all: if $f\colon \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ is any real function, there exists a dense subset $D$ of $\mathbb{R}$ such that $f|_D$ is continuous.
Or so I'm told, but this leaves me ...
- 32.5k
60
votes
23
answers
108k
views
A good book of functional analysis [closed]
I'm a student (I've been studying mathematics 4 years at the university) and I like functional analysis and topology, but I only studied 6 credits of functional analysis and 7 in topology (the basics)....
59
votes
9
answers
10k
views
Motivation for and history of pseudo-differential operators
Suppose you start from partial differential equations and functional analysis (on $\mathbb R^n$ and on real manifolds). Which prominent example problems lead you to work with pseudo-differential ...
- 5,327
59
votes
7
answers
29k
views
Learning roadmap for harmonic analysis
In short, I am interested to know of the various approaches one could take to learn modern harmonic analysis in depth. However, the question deserves additional details. Currently, I am reading Loukas ...
59
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Square root of dirac delta function
Is there a measurable function $ f:\mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}^+ $ so that $ f*f(x)=1 $ for all $ x\in \mathbb{R} $, i.e $$\int\limits_{-\infty}^{\infty} f(t)f(x-t) dt=1 $$ for all $ x\in \mathbb{R} $.
- 817
54
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Does every real function have this weak continuity property?
In my research I came across the following question :
Is it true that for every real function $f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$, there exists a real sequence $(x_n)_n$, taking infinitely many values, ...
- 4,074
54
votes
3
answers
6k
views
On which regions can Green's theorem not be applied?
In elementary calculus texts, Green's theorem is proved for regions enclosed by piecewise smooth, simple closed curves (and by extension, finite unions of such regions), including regions that are not ...
- 629
54
votes
4
answers
3k
views
When has the Borel-Cantelli heuristic been wrong?
The Borel-Cantelli lemma is very frequently used to give a heuristic for whether or not certain statements in number theory are true.
For example, it gives some evidence that there are finitely many ...
- 11.4k
54
votes
4
answers
12k
views
Everywhere differentiable function that is nowhere monotonic
It is well known that there are functions $f \colon \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ that are everywhere continuous but nowhere monotonic (i.e. the restriction of $f$ to any non-trivial interval $[a,b]$ is ...
- 3,704
53
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Pullback measures
Why do all measure theory textbooks present the concept of push-forward measure, but never the concept of pull-back measure? Doesn't the latter exist?
It's true that the naive treatment of such a ...
- 5,407
52
votes
7
answers
6k
views
On an example of an eventually oscillating function
For $x\in(0,1)$, put
$$f(x):=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}(-1)^{n}x^{2^{n}}.$$
This function possesses interesting properties. It grows monotonically from $0$ up to certain point. Then it starts to oscillate ...
- 2,188
51
votes
4
answers
17k
views
Function satisfying $f^{-1} =f'$
How many functions are there which are differentiable on $(0,\infty)$ and that satisfy the relation $f^{-1}=f'$?
- 4,795
51
votes
5
answers
18k
views
Integrability of derivatives
Is there a (preferably simple) example of a function $f:(a,b)\to \mathbb{R}$ which is everywhere differentiable, such that $f'$ is not Riemann integrable?
I ask for pedagogical reasons. Results in ...
- 11.4k
51
votes
2
answers
5k
views
A strengthening of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
Suppose $\mathbf{v},\mathbf{w} \in \mathbb{R}^n$ (and if it helps, you can assume they each have non-negative entries), and let $\mathbf{v}^2,\mathbf{w}^2$ denote the vectors whose entries are the ...
- 6,351
51
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Why does $d^n \exp(-x-x^{-1})/(dx)^n$ only have $n$ positive real zeroes?
Set $f(x) = \exp(-x-x^{-1})$. An easy induction shows that
$$\frac{d^n}{(dx)^n} f(x) = \phi_n(x^{-1}) f(x)$$
for $\phi_n$ a polynomial of degree $2n$. Clearly, the roots of $\phi_n(x^{-1})$ are the ...
- 156k
50
votes
7
answers
16k
views
Way to memorize relations between the Sobolev spaces?
Consider the Sobolev spaces $W^{k,p}(\Omega)$ with a bounded domain $\Omega$ in n-dimensional Euclidean space. When facing the different embedding theorems for the first time, one can certainly feel ...
- 2,935
49
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is a function with nowhere vanishing derivatives analytic?
My question is the following: Let $f\in C^\infty(a,b)$, such that $f^{(n)}(x)\ne 0$, for every $n\in\mathbb N$, and every $x\in (a,b)$. Does that imply that $f$ is real analytic?
EDIT. According to a ...
- 2,933
49
votes
3
answers
6k
views
The Hardy Z-function and failure of the Riemann hypothesis
David Feldman asked whether it would be reasonable for the Riemann hypothesis to be false, but for the Riemann zeta function to only have finitely many zeros off the critical line. I very rashly ...
- 13.1k