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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.

34 votes

Good "casual" advanced math books

Elementary Applied Topology by Ghrist does a fantastic job surveying recent trends in the application of (co)homological methods to practical science and engineering. It goes all the way from Euler ch …
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
11 votes

Why Cohen-Macaulay rings have become important in commutative algebra?

I'm no expert on the evolution of Cohen-Macaulay rings, so I will leave that part of your question for those who actually know their history. On a high level, Cohen-Macaulay rings are wonderful prec …
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
15 votes

Is it worthwhile to give off-topic talks?

Perhaps I should clarify this "answer" in light of the downvote as well as the OPs comment. I don't intend to cause offense or make light of your situation. I went through a similar enough phase as …
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
3 votes

Where to break paragraphs in a proof?

I'm not sure what type of answer to give here, except don't be tasteless, and do what looks right. The obvious thing to do, if an idea is spanning multiple paragraphs, is to make it a separate proposi …
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
38 votes

What are some deep theorems, and why are they considered deep?

As a very concrete example of a deep theorem different from the ones you've already mentioned, I'd nominate the Atiyah-Singer Index theorem and its more general cousins for consideration in your talk. …
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
15 votes
Accepted

Discrete Morse theory and chess

The quick answer to your question is no, discrete Morse theory has not been used to study chess moves yet (unless this has been done in some very obscure journal). I would like to highlight a few like …
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
3 votes

Financial Mathematics Books

The standard reference for derivative pricing and the role of Ito calculus are still the books by Shreve called Stochastic Calculus I (discrete) and Stochastic Calculus II (continuous). The whole theo …
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
8 votes
3 answers
3k views

Homology versus cohomology of Lie groups

A central advantage of cohomology theory over homology -- at least in terms of richness of structure and strength as an invariant -- is the additional ring structure from the cup product. Recall that …
17 votes
1 answer
1k views

Raoul Bott's quote on Morse Theory cited by Bestvina and Kahle: where is it from?

I wanted to properly cite the following awesome quote: Every mathematician has a secret weapon. Mine is Morse theory. - Raoul Bott Now this has been attributed to Bott in precisely two places th …
7 votes
Accepted

Raoul Bott's quote on Morse Theory cited by Bestvina and Kahle: where is it from?

Here is Mladen's response to my email asking this question: I heard him say it in a colloquium talk in 2001 (I think). Case closed, unless Bob MacPherson has a different answer.
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
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55 votes
10 answers
6k views

How often do people read the work that they cite?

I have the following question: How likely it is that an author carefully read through a paper cited by him? Not everyone reads through everything that they have cited. Sometimes, if one wants to …
22 votes
0 answers
3k views

Origins of the Nerve Theorem

Recently, I've read two papers which have cited the Nerve Theorem, one crediting Borsuk with the result and another Leray. Here is the question: Who was the first to prove the Nerve Theorem?