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Questions that are about research in mathematics, or about the job of a research mathematician, without being mathematical problems or statements in the strictest sense. Do not use this tag for easy or supposedly easy mathematical questions.

4 votes

Quantitatively speaking, which subject area in mathematics is currently the most research ac...

"Fashionable" is so subjective that it should be avoided here, I think. On the other hand, it is very natural to wonder about which subject areas -- as represented, say, in the 2010 AMS Mathematics S …
12 votes

Should there be a specified standard knowledge of mathematicians?

Like M. Emerton, Pierre's question makes me reflect on what most departments actually do to enforce common knowledge among (future) working mathematicians: their qualifying exams. I hope that most de …
10 votes

How seriously do professors take teaching evaluations?

To answer the second question: professors at most universities these days take teaching evaluations fairly seriously -- not necessarily one by one (although we are human beings and a piece of seemingl …
30 votes

why haven't certain well-researched classes of mathematical object been framed by category t...

To turn a class into a category, you need a notion of morphisms between objects in the class. That's the long and short of it. Consider for instance the class of infinite real series, say viewed as …
Pete L. Clark's user avatar
3 votes

What do people mean by "subcategory"?

Upon request, I will clarify -- and partially take back! -- my earlier comment. What I find completely unobjectionable is Mac Lane's definition of a subcategory $\mathcal{D}$ of a category $\mathcal …
Pete L. Clark's user avatar
10 votes

Theorems true but wrong.

I found the blog piece by Professor Tao that I commented above seems to be relevant to this question: http://terrytao.wordpress.com/advice-on-writing-papers/dont-overoptimise/ I hope the OP will tel …
11 votes

Technical phd after 33

In my opinion, people are not giving the OP enough credit for already having a PhD in a related field. This means s/he has a better grasp of what it means to get a PhD than 99% of the general populat …
30 votes

Consolidation: Aftermathematics of fads

Since Quinn's article is a long opinion piece which he says is 90% complete and welcomes comments, it seems entirely appropriate to contact him for clarification on this point. He would probably be h …
34 votes

How to know if somebody else is also working on your problem?

As others have indicated, the only 100% effective method of preventing getting "scooped" or finding out that your result already exists in the literature is that of complete abstinence: i.e., not tryi …
105 votes

Too old for advanced mathematics?

This is indeed not a typical math overflow question, but never mind that. Of course you can learn mathematics at the age of 30 after having stopped studying it at the age of 18! Examples are abundan …
Pete L. Clark's user avatar
12 votes

Biographic Data/Stories about André Néron

It seems that Colliot-Thélène was asked this question three times: by me, by Olivier, and by Kevin Buzzard. Here is the reply that he gave to Kevin and forwarded to me: Le patron d'André Néron ét …
13 votes

What to look for in applicants to graduate programs (in mathematics)?

Let me take a crack at the question, since I am currently on the graduate committee at UGA. [The University of Georgia is about the 50th best department in the country, so just a little shy of being …
29 votes

How important are publications for undergrads?

I am (as always) speaking with regard to mathematics, not CS or or some other field: Undergraduate publications are not viewed as a requirement, nor even necessarily a big plus, in a grad school appl …
8 votes

Graduate School

The advice to apply separately for a master's program is very good. If you can take the GREs (general and math subject) and do well, then many institutions will be willing to take a chance on you as …
2 votes

Use of the word "data" not in the statistical sense

This use seems in line -- although perhaps not identical -- with the following dictionary definition: Data: Factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or …

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