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Daniel Asimov
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Anomalous phenomena

What are examples of strikingly anomalous phenomena in mathematics, where just one or a rather small number of cases stand out because they don't fit a general pattern?

This is most interesting when the situation considered is very simple and basic, and where the exceptional cases are not merely the lowest-numbered ones.

For example, the outer automorphism of the symmetric group S6 (which exist for no other Sn), and the existence of non-standard differentiable structures on R4 (but for no other Rn).

Daniel Asimov
  • 2.9k
  • 24
  • 26