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3 votes
2 answers
141 views

Accessible literature on fractional dimensions of subsets of $\mathbb R^n$

I am currently wondering whether it is realistically possible to choose the topic "Fractals and fractal dimensions" for a seminar aimed at undergraduate students in the 2nd semester, with ...
B K's user avatar
  • 1,942
2 votes
1 answer
628 views

Does some published texbook take a particular approach (described here) to the transition from discrete to continuous probability distributions?

(I posted this question at matheducators.stackexchange.com and it seems to be considered an inappropriate question for that site. I don't understand why.) Imagine an introductory probability course ...
Michael Hardy's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
723 views

Alternate algorithms for Chinese remainder theorem

I was teaching Discrete this semester and set the students loose on a system of linear congruences. One of them came up with this solution. Say $$ x \equiv 1 \textrm{ mod } 3 $$ $$ x \equiv 3 \textrm{ ...
coolpapa's user avatar
  • 525
9 votes
3 answers
1k views

Books on the relationship between the Socratic method and mathematics?

Apart from books on heuristics by George Polya. When trying to engage with and understand mathematical concepts and when applying abstract mathematical concepts to model "continuum" or real ...
James Fife's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
125 views

Are there search algorithms that are competitive against (gradient based) optimization routines for continuous problems?

Suppose that $f: \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$ is a continuous function for which we want to minimize. We may arbitrarily impose good conditions for $f$, such as Lipschitzness, smoothness, convexity, ...
Sin Nombre's user avatar
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 ...
Francois Ziegler's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
887 views

How many ways are there to teach class field theory?

I will soon have to teach class field theory (I do not know whether it will be local or global yet:)) to postgraduate students. I wonder, which approaches to this subject(s) exist now. I definitely ...
Mikhail Bondarko's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
372 views

Theory of surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ as level sets

Is there a book that treats the classical theory of surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ from the point of view of level sets of a function? I seem to remember someone telling me that such a book exists, but I ...
Otis Chodosh's user avatar
  • 7,197
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Pages from a known textbook on Euclidean geometry?

Do you recall having seen the attached pages in a textbook once? If so, would you be so kind as to share its bibliographic record (or the main items in it) with me below? A teacher provided us xerox ...
José Hdz. Stgo.'s user avatar
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. ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
27 votes
3 answers
3k views

Is “problem solving” a subject to be taught?

I am witnessing a new curriculum change in my country (Iran). It includes the change of all the mathematics textbooks at all grades. The peoples involved has sent me the textbook for seven graders (13 ...
7 votes
3 answers
1k views

Higher dimensional Bezout via Hilbert polynomials: a reference

For the purposes of teaching my elementary course in algebraic geometry I am looking for a reference (or notes) that contains a complete proof of a higher-dimensional weak Bezout theorem. I only want ...
aglearner's user avatar
  • 14.3k
16 votes
2 answers
2k views

There are two points on the Earth's surface that ... ?

At every moment in time, there are two points on the Earth's surface that have the same $\lbrace x, y, z, ... \rbrace$...? What is the strongest, most impressive statement one can make here? The ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
7 votes
8 answers
4k views

Mathematical Advice for Interested Highschool Students

This may not be a research level math question, but I believe it is still relevant to Math Overflow. What general resources exist for students in highschool who are very interested in Mathematics?...
34 votes
23 answers
29k views

Textbook recommendations for undergraduate proof-writing class

I am teaching the proof-writing class (for the 3rd time) in the Fall and plan to buck the party line and use a different text than the default Bond and Keane. My parameters are as follows: Logic, ...
3 votes
6 answers
2k views

Teach a course in 1 month

I need to teach an intro course on number theory in 1 month. I was just notified. Since I have never studied it, what are good books to learn it quickly?
27 votes
5 answers
7k views

References for "modern" proof of Newlander-Nirenberg Theorem

Hi, I'm starting to prepare a graduate topics course on Complex and Kahler manifolds for January 2011. I want to use this course as an excuse to teach the students some geometric analysis. In ...
2 votes
4 answers
6k views

Undergraduate Derivation of Fundamental Solution to Heat Equation

It is well known that the 1-dimensional heat equation $$\frac{\partial}{\partial t} u(x,t)=a\cdot\frac{\partial^2}{\partial x^2} {u(x,t)}$$ has the fundamental solution $$K(x,t)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi a ...
vonjd's user avatar
  • 5,935