Questions tagged [popularization]
The popularization tag has no usage guidance.
13 questions
8
votes
3
answers
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Knot theory and creative writing
I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Creative Writing and an M.S. Student in Mathematics and I'm writing my master's thesis on knot theory and trying to tie in applications to creative writing. Has anyone come ...
- 105
52
votes
1
answer
5k
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Mathematics of imaging the black hole
The first ever black hole was "pictured" recently, per an announcement made on 10th April, 2019. See for example: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873592 .
It has been claimed that ...
- 2,281
15
votes
1
answer
2k
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A fun game related to knot theory
I recently learned the following rather fun game: a group of people is standing up roughly in circle, facing each other. Then participants randomly join hands, in such a way that nobody holds its own ...
- 8,524
3
votes
2
answers
2k
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Popular books written by great mathematicians [closed]
I read:
H. Poincare. Value of science
F. Klein. Development of Mathematics in the 19th Century
J.E. Littlewood. A Mathematicians Miscellany
G.H. Hardy. A Mathematician’s Apology
R. Courant, H....
28
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Intuitive pictures in characteristic p
This is a tough one, but does anyone know of any images that recall characteristic p geometry (over algebraically closed fields) in some sense? It is not enough if it is some picture that can be also ...
- 2,215
74
votes
14
answers
9k
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How to write popular mathematics well? [closed]
Recently, some classmates and I were lamenting the fact that our classmates in other disciplines had almost no conception of what we did, despite the large mathematics population at Waterloo. Instead ...
1
vote
0
answers
644
views
Popular level article on monster group
People who are not mathematicians (or high school students who are in maths) often become interested in what is the Monster Group - mainly because of unusual name. Since it's not my field, I'm able ...
120
votes
33
answers
15k
views
Examples of theorems misapplied to non-mathematical contexts
For something I'm writing -- I'm interested in examples of bad arguments which involve the application of mathematical theorems in non-mathematical contexts. E.G. folks who make theological arguments ...
144
votes
24
answers
19k
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Occurrences of (co)homology in other disciplines and/or nature
I am curious if the setup for (co)homology theory appears outside the realm of pure mathematics. The idea of a family of groups linked by a series of arrows such that the composition of consecutive ...
23
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Mathematics TV clips
I have just come out of a talk on presenting science to the public via mainstream media. I became jealous of what other sciences, such as astrophysics, have achieved in these media.
This is ...
188
votes
47
answers
101k
views
Magic trick based on deep mathematics
I am interested in magic tricks whose explanation requires deep mathematics. The trick should be one that would actually appeal to a layman. An example is the following: the magician asks Alice to ...
87
votes
61
answers
44k
views
Favorite popular math book [closed]
Christmas is almost here, so imagine you want to buy a good popular math book for your aunt (or whoever you want). Which book would you buy or recommend?
It would be nice if you could answer in the ...
195
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30
answers
78k
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Real-world applications of mathematics, by arxiv subject area?
What are the most important applications outside of mathematics of each of the major fields of mathematics? For concreteness, let's divide up mathematics according to arxiv mathematics categories, e.g....