All Questions
542 questions
3
votes
0
answers
176
views
What is the meaning of big-O of a random variable?
I encountered this problem in a book "Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning" by Christopher M. Bishop. I excerpt it below:
screenshot of the book
In the excerpt, the big-O notation $O(\xi^...
- 31
19
votes
14
answers
4k
views
Excellent uses of induction and recursion
Can you make an example of a great proof by induction or construction by recursion?
Given that you already have your own idea of what "great" means, here it can also be taken to mean that the chosen ...
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
49
votes
5
answers
4k
views
How do you mentor undergraduate research?
Lets say you had an undergraduate who wanted to do some advanced work and some research, possibly for a thesis, or things like that.
There are two slightly more specific groups of questions I have ...
16
votes
12
answers
10k
views
How seriously should a graduate student take teaching evaluations? [closed]
Pretty much the question in the title. If a grad student gets bad reviews as a TA, how much does that hurt them later? How much do good reviews help? What if the situation is more complex? (For ...
45
votes
10
answers
4k
views
effective teaching
Eric Mazur has a wonderful video describing how physics is taught at many universities and his description applies word for word to the way I learned mathematics and the way it is still being taught, ...
61
votes
10
answers
10k
views
Teaching proofs in the era of Google
Dear members,
Way back in the stone age when I was an undergraduate (the mid 90's), the internet was a germinal thing and that consisted of not much more than e-mail, ftp and the unix "talk" command ...
32
votes
7
answers
71k
views
Notation for the all-ones vector [closed]
What's the most common way of writing the all-ones vector, that is, the vector, when projected onto each standard basis vector of a given vector space, having length one? The zero vector is frequently ...
- 439
1
vote
1
answer
117
views
Resources on blended teaching and flipped classroom in undergraduate mathematics education [closed]
I'd like to learn about the implementation of "blended teaching" in general and "flipped classroom" in particular for the teaching of undergraduate mathematics. Can anyone ...
- 141
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 ...
15
votes
3
answers
3k
views
History of the pullback corner notation
Where/when did the convention originate of marking pullback (and/or pushout) squares by that little right-angle symbol in the corner?
The earliest instance I’ve been able to find is in Paul Taylor’s ...
- 21.3k
17
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Languages beyond enumerable
A language is a set of finite-length strings from some finite alphabet $\Sigma$.
It is no loss of generality (for my purposes) to take $\Sigma=\{0,1\}$; so a language is a set of bit-strings.
...
- 151k
23
votes
12
answers
15k
views
Textbook for undergraduate course in geometry
I've been assigned to teach our undergraduate course in geometry next semester. This course originally was intended for future high-school teachers and focused on axiomatic, Euclid-style geometry (...
35
votes
7
answers
12k
views
Fraktur symbols for Lie algebras
Does anyone know when and why the Fraktur script was introduced for Lie and other algebras—$\mathfrak{g}$, $\mathfrak{gl}_n$, $X/\mathfrak{g}$,
$\mathfrak{g}\oplus\mathfrak{g}$, $\mathfrak{su}$, ...
- 151k
71
votes
11
answers
9k
views
How to introduce notions of flat, projective and free modules?
In the coming spring semester I will be teaching for the first time an introductory (graduate) course in Commutative Algebra. As many people know, I have been plugging away for a while at this ...
- 65.4k
1
vote
1
answer
147
views
"Variable and fixed" in categories
We often find in Grothendieck terminology the words variable and fixed (or absolute).
For example in SGA 4 studies variable topological spaces, groups, and categories as examples of morphisms of topos....
- 894
34
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Does seeing beyond the course you teach matter? The case of linear algebra and matrices
This question is indeed very important for me. Thus I hope you bear with my subjective explanations for a few minutes. I am an "excellent" lecturer, at least according to course evaluation forms ...
32
votes
22
answers
9k
views
Origins of Mathematical Symbols/Names
I'm not sure if this has been asked. I'll explain the question by an example.
Fields are often denoted by the letter k, which comes from the German word Körper, meaning body (like corpse, corporeal).
...
27
votes
17
answers
9k
views
Using slides in math classroom
I am toying with the idea of using slides (Beamer package) in a third year math course I will teach next semester. As this would be my first attempt at this, I would like to gather ideas about the ...
27
votes
10
answers
4k
views
What (fun) results in graph theory should undergraduates learn?
I have the task of creating a 3rd year undergraduate course in graph theory (in the UK). Essentially the students will have seen minimal discrete math/combinatorics before this course. Since graph ...
23
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Is $\ x\! \cdot\!\tan(x)\ $ integrable in elementary functions?
I'm teaching Calculus and my students asked me to calculate the integral of $\ x\! \cdot\!\tan(x)$.
I spent quite a lot of effort to do this, but I'm now even not sure if the integral could be ...
- 1,437
1
vote
1
answer
171
views
Notation for infinite cartesian products
This is a soft question, feel free to delete it if deemed inappropriate for the site. What is the best notation for the cartesian product of an infinite number of copies of the same set $E$? Maybe one ...
- 9,007
33
votes
11
answers
13k
views
Lecture notes on representations of finite groups
Next term I am supposed to teach a course on representation of finite groups. This is a third year course for undegrads. I was thinking to use the book of Grodon James and Martin Liebeck "...
16
votes
2
answers
889
views
Why are Thompson's groups called $F$, $T$ and $V$?
Why are Thompson's groups called $F$, $T$ and $V$?
I never saw Thompson's unpublished notes, in which he introduces these groups; maybe an explanation can be found there?
- 8,401
17
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Notation for "the" left adjoint functor
As far as I know, there is no "official" notation for the left adjoint of a functor $F : \mathcal{C} \to \mathcal{D}$ if it exists. I have seen the notation $F^*$ sometimes, but this looks only nice ...
- 63.1k
52
votes
9
answers
26k
views
Is Galois theory necessary (in a basic graduate algebra course)?
By definition, a basic graduate algebra course in a U.S. (or similar) university with
a Ph.D. program in mathematics lasts part or all of an academic year and is taken
by first (sometimes second) ...
16
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Integrating powers without much calculus
I'll jump into the question and then back off into qualifications and context
Using the definition of a definite integral as the limit of Riemann sums, what is the best way (or the very good ways) to ...
- 30.1k
2
votes
0
answers
311
views
Degree of a morphism between affine varieties
(Context: rewriting a joint paper with a coauthor.)
We are defining the degree of a morphism $f:A^m\to A^{n}$ to be $\max_{1\leq i\leq n} \deg(f_i)$, for $f_1,f_2,\dotsc,f_{n}$ the polynomials ...
- 20.2k
23
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Was Jacobi the first to notice the ambiguity in the partial derivatives notation? And did anyone object to his fix?
In his 1841 article De determinantibus, Jacobi remarked that the notation $\frac{\partial z}{\partial x}$ for partial derivatives is ambiguous. He observed that when $z$ is a function of $x,y$ as well ...
- 5,343
1
vote
0
answers
190
views
what belongs in a first university-level geometry course? [closed]
I know this is not really a research question, but I would like to ask it of research mathematicians, to see if there is a consensus. In a recent discussion on this topic, someone suggested that if ...
- 99
0
votes
0
answers
303
views
Is Baire's theorem stronger than needed for functional analysis?
Many classic theorems in functional analysis involve using Baire's theorem to prove facts about topology that relate to maps between Banach spaces (or, more generally, F-spaces). The application ...
- 109
39
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Who invented diagrammatic algebra?
There is a strong and growing trend to do mathematics via diagrammatic algebra, which involves constructing and manipulating equations whose elements are diagrams drawn in the plane. The manipulations ...
- 22.1k
6
votes
8
answers
2k
views
Mathematical objects whose name is a single letter
(Not research-level, but perhaps not easily answered elsewhere — you decide if MO can afford the innocent fun. If so, it should likely be “community-wiki” i.e. one object per answer.)
I am seeking ...
5
votes
2
answers
377
views
What is meant by this notation of the real forms of $E_6$?
There are five real forms of the exceptional Lie group, $E_6$. Four of them are notated as in the following:
The split form as EI or $E_{6(6)}$
The quasi-split form as EII or $E_{6(2)}$
EIII or $E_{...
- 2,369
35
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is it consistent with ZF that $V \to V^{\ast \ast}$ is always an isomorphism?
Let $k$ be a field and $V$ a $k$-vector space. Then there is a map $V \to V^{\ast \ast}$, where $V^{\ast}$ is the dual vector space. If we are in ZFC and $\dim V$ is infinite, then this map is not ...
- 156k
51
votes
6
answers
5k
views
What does it take to run a good learning seminar?
I'm thinking about running a graduate student seminar in the summer. Having both organized and participated in such seminars in the past, I have witnessed first-hand that, contrary to what one might ...
24
votes
11
answers
8k
views
The role of the mean value theorem (MVT) in first-year calculus
Should the mean value theorem be taught in first-year calculus?
Most calculus textbooks present the MVT just before the section that says that if $f'>0$ on an interval then $f$ increases on that ...
12
votes
12
answers
2k
views
What are fun elementary subjects in probability?
I have to read several lectures on probability or applications of probability for high school students (of high level). There is no necessary part I must lecture, that is, my aim is just advertisement....
17
votes
17
answers
3k
views
Readings for an honors liberal art math course
Our university has an Honors section of our "liberal arts mathematics" course. Typically 10-20 students enroll each Fall, with most of them extremely bright, but lacking the interest and/or ...
16
votes
5
answers
2k
views
"Classical" consequences of Bezout's theorem in dimensions $>2$
By Classical I mean something that could have been found before 1900 (say).
A well known consequence of Bezout's theorem for plane curves is Pascal's theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal'...
- 14.3k
-4
votes
2
answers
228
views
An elementary-looking integral inequality
This might seem a bit easy but I still like to ask it for pedagogical reasons.
QUESTION. Is this inequality true for non-negative integers $n$?
$$\frac{\pi}2\int_0^1x^n\sin\left(\frac{\pi}2x\right)dx\...
- 43.2k
2
votes
1
answer
740
views
What does the subscript 'x' of a matrix mean? [closed]
The 3x6 matrix G is as follows,
$\text{G} = [\text{V}_\times| I_{3\times3}]$
$\text{V}$ is a skew matrix of a vector with 3 elements about a 3D point. The dimension of $\text{V}$ is 3x3.
$I$ is the ...
- 23
5
votes
2
answers
445
views
About the maximum number of leaves adjacent to a vertex in a tree
Let $T$ be a finite tree graph with the set of vertices $V(T)$. For an arbitrary vertex $ v \in V(T)$, I define $l(v)$ to be the number of leaves connected to $v$.
In my study, I need to define the ...
9
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Origin of the symbol for the tensor product
I have recently realised that the Paleo-Hebrew (and Phoenician) graph for the Hebrew letter ט (Teth) is $\otimes$. This made me wonder if there is any relation between the choice of the symbol and the ...
- 5,670
0
votes
2
answers
250
views
Is it improper to define matrices as being $n \times m$ rather than $m \times n$? [closed]
For whatever reason, I have always defined matrices as being $n \times m$, and that is how I have been defining matrices throughout my dissertation. Recently however, I have noticed that nearly every ...
18
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Where does the name "R-matrix" come from?
In quantum integrability and related topics a lot of not-so imaginative terminology is used. One may hear people talk about "Q-operators", "R-matrices", "S-matrices", "T-operators", as well as "L-...
- 1,996
12
votes
1
answer
521
views
Source of a quote by Ferdinand Rudio
I am looking for the source and context of this quote, found e.g. at St Andrews:
Only with the greatest difficulty is one able to follow the writings of any author preceding Euler, because it was ...
- 31.5k
2
votes
0
answers
234
views
Why is $H$ the standard notation for mean curvature?
I am curious about the origin of the notation $H$ to denote the mean curvature of a surface in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$.
I suppose that the symbol $K$, which is commonly used to denote the Gaussian curvature, ...
- 985
-3
votes
1
answer
222
views
What is the basis for the quantifier notation? [closed]
The symbols $\forall, \exists$ are the ones officially used to denote universal and existential quantifiers respectively. I understand that the choice of $\exists$ was made by Peano, while of $\forall$...
- 11.3k
16
votes
5
answers
5k
views
When did the abuse of notation $y=y(x)$ start?
It's quite common nowadays to name a function and the application of the function to its input with the same letter. (Possibly more so in applied areas. Certainly many calculus textbooks do this.)
...
- 5,343