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1050 votes
292 answers
341k views

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

The first thing to say is that this is not the same as the question about interesting mathematical mistakes. I am interested about the type of false beliefs that many intelligent people have while ...
146 votes
66 answers
38k views

Important formulas in combinatorics

Motivation: The poster for the conference celebrating Noga Alon's 60th birthday, fifteen formulas describing some of Alon's work are presented. (See this post, for the poster, and cash prizes offered ...
230 votes
13 answers
40k views

Is there an introduction to probability theory from a structuralist/categorical perspective?

The title really is the question, but allow me to explain. I am a pure mathematician working outside of probability theory, but the concepts and techniques of probability theory (in the sense of ...
Pete L. Clark's user avatar
44 votes
5 answers
6k views

Finding a 1-form adapted to a smooth flow

Let $M$ be a smooth compact manifold, and let $X$ be a smooth vector field of $M$ that is nowhere vanishing, thus one can think of the pair $(M,X)$ as a smooth flow with no fixed points. Let us say ...
Terry Tao's user avatar
  • 108k
42 votes
6 answers
7k views

An algebra of "integrals"

When discussing divergent integrals with people, I got curious about the following: Is there an $\mathbb{R}$-algebra $A$ together with a map (could be defined on just a subspace) $$\int_0^{\infty}: ...
36min's user avatar
  • 3,758
382 votes
115 answers
105k views

Not especially famous, long-open problems which anyone can understand

Question: I'm asking for a big list of not especially famous, long open problems that anyone can understand. Community wiki, so one problem per answer, please. Motivation: I plan to use this list in ...
382 votes
53 answers
143k views

Widely accepted mathematical results that were later shown to be wrong?

Are there any examples in the history of mathematics of a mathematical proof that was initially reviewed and widely accepted as valid, only to be disproved a significant amount of time later, possibly ...
69 votes
3 answers
7k views

Can you solve the listed smallest open Diophantine equations?

In 2018, Zidane asked What is the smallest unsolved Diophantine equation? The suggested way to measure size is substitute 2 instead of all variables, absolute values instead of all coefficients, and ...
Bogdan Grechuk's user avatar
290 votes
34 answers
38k views

Which journals publish expository work?

I wonder if anyone else has noticed that the market for expository papers in mathematics is very narrow (more so than it used to be, perhaps). Are there any journals which publish expository work, ...
88 votes
5 answers
10k views

When is $A$ isomorphic to $A^3$?

This is totally elementary, but I have no idea how to solve it: let $A$ be an abelian group such that $A$ is isomorphic to $A^3$. is then $A$ isomorphic to $A^2$? probably no, but how construct a ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
38 votes
1 answer
4k views

Why is there a connection between enumerative geometry and nonlinear waves?

Recently I encountered in a class the fact that there is a generating function of Gromov–Witten invariants that satisfies the Korteweg–de Vries hierarchy. Let me state the fact more precisely. ...
Nathaniel Bottman's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
2k views

Limit cycles as closed geodesics (in negatively or positively curved space)

Updated 1/25/2023 I just added a related post below: Jacobi fields, Conjugate points and limit cycle theory EDIT: Here is a related post which concern quadratic vector fields rather than Van ...
Ali Taghavi's user avatar
229 votes
46 answers
87k views

Most interesting mathematics mistake?

Some mistakes in mathematics made by extremely smart and famous people can eventually lead to interesting developments and theorems, e.g. Poincaré's 3d sphere characterization or the search to prove ...
54 votes
8 answers
9k views

Does the formal power series solution to $f(f(x))= \sin( x) $ converge?

I have spent some time using gp-pari. There is, of course, a formal power series solution to $ f(f(x)) = \sin x.$ It is displayed below, identified by the symbol $g$ because I am not entirely sure ...
Will Jagy's user avatar
  • 25.3k
48 votes
4 answers
5k views

How to constructively/combinatorially prove Schur-Weyl duality?

How is Schur-Weyl duality (specifically, the fact that the actions of the group ring $\mathbb{K}\left[ S_{n}\right] $ and the monoid ring $\mathbb{K}\left[ \left( \operatorname*{End}V,\cdot\...
darij grinberg's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

Generalization of a theorem of Øystein Ore in group theory

Theorem (Øystein Ore, 1938): A finite group $G$ is cyclic iff its lattice of subgroups $\mathcal{L}(G)$ is distributive. Proof: see below. Let $(H \subset G)$ be an inclusion of finite groups and $\...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
392 votes
23 answers
65k views

Thinking and Explaining

How big a gap is there between how you think about mathematics and what you say to others? Do you say what you're thinking? Please give either personal examples of how your thoughts and words differ, ...
249 votes
16 answers
67k views

Why worry about the axiom of choice?

As I understand it, it has been proven that the axiom of choice is independent of the other axioms of set theory. Yet I still see people fuss about whether or not theorem X depends on it, and I don't ...
209 votes
51 answers
80k views

Ways to prove the fundamental theorem of algebra

This seems to be a favorite question everywhere, including Princeton quals. How many ways are there? Please give a new way in each answer, and if possible give reference. I start by giving two: ...
118 votes
5 answers
13k views

What do epimorphisms of (commutative) rings look like?

(Background: In any category, an epimorphism is a morphism $f:X\to Y$ which is "surjective" in the following sense: for any two morphisms $g,h:Y\to Z$, if $g\circ f=h\circ f$, then $g=h$. Roughly, "...
Anton Geraschenko's user avatar
49 votes
6 answers
10k views

Generating finite simple groups with $2$ elements

Here is a very natural question: Q: Is it always possible to generate a finite simple group with only $2$ elements? In all the examples that I can think of the answer is yes. If the answer is ...
Hugo Chapdelaine's user avatar
71 votes
6 answers
9k views

Kahler differentials and Ordinary Differentials

What's the relationship between Kahler differentials and ordinary differential forms?
Abtan Massini's user avatar
118 votes
15 answers
97k views

Sum of 'the first k' binomial coefficients for fixed $N$

I am interested in the function $$f(N,k)=\sum_{i=0}^{k} {N \choose i}$$ for fixed $N$ and $0 \leq k \leq N $. Obviously it equals 1 for $k = 0$ and $2^{N}$ for $k = N$, but are there any other ...
mathy's user avatar
  • 1,258
49 votes
2 answers
10k views

Is this Riemann zeta function product equal to the Fourier transform of the von Mangoldt function?

Mathematica knows that: $$\log(n) = \lim\limits_{s \rightarrow 1} \zeta(s)\left(1 - \frac{1}{n^{(s - 1)}}\right)\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; (1)$$ The von Mangoldt function should then be: $$\Lambda(n)=...
22 votes
2 answers
2k views

Non weakly-group-theoretical integral fusion category

Is there an integral fusion category of rank $7$, FPdim $210$ and type $(1,5,5,5,6,7,7)$ with the following fusion rules (or the little $\color{purple}{\text{variation}}$ below)? $$\scriptsize{\begin{...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
271 votes
67 answers
136k views

Awfully sophisticated proof for simple facts [closed]

It is sometimes the case that one can produce proofs of simple facts that are of disproportionate sophistication which, however, do not involve any circularity. For example, (I think) I gave an ...
158 votes
48 answers
23k views

Generalizing a problem to make it easier

One of the many articles on the Tricki that was planned but has never been written was about making it easier to solve a problem by generalizing it (which initially seems paradoxical because if you ...
134 votes
69 answers
220k views

Mathematical "urban legends"

When I was a young and impressionable graduate student at Princeton, we scared each other with the story of a Final Public Oral, where Jack Milnor was dragged in against his will to sit on a committee,...
73 votes
10 answers
10k views

Riemannian surfaces with an explicit distance function?

I'm looking for explicit examples of Riemannian surfaces (two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds $(M,g)$) for which the distance function d(x,y) can be given explicitly in terms of local coordinates of ...
Terry Tao's user avatar
  • 108k
34 votes
3 answers
11k views

About Goldbach's conjecture

let's consider a composite natural number $n$ greater or equal to $4$. Goldbach's conjecture is equivalent to the following statement: "there is at least one natural number $r$ such as $(n-r)$ ...
Sylvain JULIEN's user avatar
33 votes
2 answers
2k views

Are the Sierpiński cardinal $\acute{\mathfrak n}$ and its measure modification $\acute{\mathfrak m}$ equal to some known small uncountable cardinals?

This question was motivated by an answer to this question of Dominic van der Zypen. It relates to the following classical theorem of Sierpiński. Theorem (Sierpiński, 1921). For any countable partition ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.8k
32 votes
2 answers
4k views

Similarities between Post's Problem and Cohen's Forcing

Remark: I have since learned that G.H. Moore addresses this question in the third reference listed at the end of this post, beginning on p. 157 in which he cites a letter from Kreisel to Gödel dated 4/...
Benjamin Dickman's user avatar
20 votes
8 answers
12k views

Lower bound for sum of binomial coefficients?

Hi! I'm new here. It would be awesome if someone knows a good answer. Is there a good lower bound for the tail of sums of binomial coefficients? I'm particularly interested in the simplest case $\...
user13006's user avatar
  • 233
325 votes
34 answers
92k views

Why is a topology made up of 'open' sets? [closed]

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I don't think I've ever been able to genuinely motivate the definition of a topological space in an undergraduate course. Clearly, the definition distills the essence of ...
291 votes
34 answers
50k views

What are some reasonable-sounding statements that are independent of ZFC?

Every now and then, somebody will tell me about a question. When I start thinking about it, they say, "actually, it's undecidable in ZFC." For example, suppose $A$ is an abelian group such ...
171 votes
7 answers
16k views

Does $\DeclareMathOperator\Aut{Aut}\Aut(\Aut(\dots\Aut(G)\dots))$ stabilize?

Purely for fun, I was playing around with iteratively applying $\DeclareMathOperator{\Aut}{Aut}\Aut$ to a group $G$; that is, studying groups of the form $$ {\Aut}^n(G):= \Aut(\Aut(\dots\Aut(G)\dots))....
Greg Muller's user avatar
  • 12.7k
107 votes
6 answers
18k views

How small can a sum of a few roots of unity be?

Let $n$ be a large natural number, and let $z_1, \ldots, z_{10}$ be (say) ten $n^{th}$ roots of unity: $z_1^n = \ldots = z_{10}^n = 1$. Suppose that the sum $S = z_1+\ldots+z_{10}$ is non-zero. How ...
Terry Tao's user avatar
  • 108k
80 votes
12 answers
15k views

Compelling evidence that two basepoints are better than one

This question is inspired by an answer of Tim Porter. Ronnie Brown pioneered a framework for homotopy theory in which one may consider multiple basepoints. These ideas are accessibly presented in his ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
49 votes
4 answers
8k views

Is there an "elementary" proof of the infinitude of completely split primes?

Let $K$ be a Galois extension of the rationals with degree $n$. The Chebotarev Density Theorem guarantees that the rational primes that split completely in $K$ have density $1/n$ and thus there are ...
François G. Dorais's user avatar
46 votes
2 answers
6k views

What interesting/nontrivial results in Algebraic geometry require the existence of universes?

Brian Conrad indicated a while ago that many of the results proven in AG using universes can be proven without them by being very careful (link). I'm wondering if there are any results in AG that ...
Harry Gindi's user avatar
  • 19.4k
40 votes
5 answers
11k views

Do sets with positive Lebesgue measure have same cardinality as R?

I have been thinking about which kind of wild non-measurable functions you can define. This led me to the question: Is it possible to prove in ZFC, that if a (Edit: measurabel) set $A\subset \mathbb{...
Sune Jakobsen's user avatar
38 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 ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
37 votes
5 answers
4k views

Reference for the Gelfand duality theorem for commutative von Neumann algebras

The Gelfand duality theorem for commutative von Neumann algebras states that the following three categories are equivalent: (1) The opposite category of the category of commutative von Neumann ...
Dmitri Pavlov's user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
6k views

Question about functional derivatives

This page on Wikipedia defines the so-called functional derivative as follows: "Given a manifold $M$ representing (continuous/smooth) functions $\rho$ (with certain boundary conditions, etc.) and a ...
IamWill's user avatar
  • 3,151
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

Guises of the Stasheff polytopes, associahedra for the Coxeter $A_n$ root system?

Richard Stanley keeps a famous running compilation of different guises of the celebrated Catalan numbers. The number of vertices of the associahedron is one instantiation among the multitude, and the ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 9,937
9 votes
0 answers
4k views

Is the conjecture A+B=C following correct?

Is the conjecture on A+B=C following correct ? Conjecture: Let $A, B, C$ be three positive integer numbers such that $A+B=C$ with $\gcd(A, B, C) = 1$. By Fundamental theorem of arithmetic we write: $...
Đào Thanh Oai's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Pochhammer symbol of a differential, and hypergeometric polynomials

I have a minor result which I'm sure has come up somewhere before but I can't seem to find it. Consider a confluent hypergeometric function of the form $$\newcommand{\ff}{{}_1F_1} \ff(b+k;b;z)\...
Emilio Pisanty's user avatar
212 votes
24 answers
45k views

What is torsion in differential geometry intuitively?

Hi, given a connection on the tangent space of a manifold, one can define its torsion: $$T(X,Y):=\triangledown_X Y - \triangledown_Y X - [X,Y]$$ What is the geometric picture behind this definition&...
Jan Weidner's user avatar
  • 12.8k
181 votes
60 answers
42k views

Examples of eventual counterexamples

Define an "eventual counterexample" to be $P(a) = T $ for $a < n$ $P(n) = F$ $n$ is sufficiently large for $P(a) = T\ \ \forall a \in \mathbb{N}$ to be a 'reasonable' conjecture to ...
171 votes
3 answers
64k views

Estimating the size of solutions of a diophantine equation

A. Is there natural numbers $a,b,c$ such that $\frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{a+c} + \frac{c}{a+b}$ is equal to an odd natural number ? (I do not know any such numbers). B. Suppose that $\frac{a}{b+c} + \...
alex alexeq's user avatar
  • 1,851

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