User Peter Shor

111 votes

What recent discoveries have amateur mathematicians made?

answered Oct 30, 2010 at 15:45

66 votes

If you break a stick at two points chosen uniformly, the probability the three resulting sticks form a triangle is 1/4. Is there a nice proof of this?

answered Jun 3, 2011 at 5:18

45 votes

Most intricate and most beautiful structures in mathematics

answered Dec 17, 2010 at 18:10

41 votes

Demonstrating that rigour is important

answered Sep 3, 2010 at 22:07

40 votes

Accepted

Undecidability in Conway's Game of Life

answered Nov 9, 2010 at 0:02

39 votes

How much reading do you do before you attack a problem?

answered Jul 23, 2010 at 16:13

37 votes

When should a result be made into a paper?

answered Oct 11, 2010 at 12:52

32 votes

Is there a version of inclusion/exclusion for vector spaces?

answered Mar 12, 2010 at 22:32

29 votes

Problems known to be in both NP and coNP, but not known to be in P

answered Jul 17, 2010 at 19:51

29 votes

What are the big problems in probability theory?

answered Aug 30, 2010 at 21:45

29 votes

Undergraduate math research

answered Nov 12, 2010 at 23:39

28 votes

Mathematical "urban legends"

answered Jan 24, 2011 at 22:22

28 votes

Noteworthy, but not so famous conjectures resolved recent years

answered Nov 23, 2020 at 21:02

28 votes

Accepted

Is #k-XORSAT #P-complete?

answered Aug 14, 2010 at 19:49

26 votes

Which mathematical ideas have done most to change history?

answered Mar 15, 2011 at 23:04

24 votes

Do names given to math concepts have a role in common mistakes by students?

answered Jul 19, 2010 at 1:41

22 votes

Accepted

Complete problems for randomized complexity classes

answered Aug 4, 2010 at 3:45

19 votes

Which math paper maximizes the ratio (importance)/(length)?

answered Dec 3, 2009 at 23:52

18 votes

Accepted

Why do statistical randomness tests seem so ad hoc?

answered Sep 2, 2010 at 23:11

18 votes

Accepted

Quantum PCP Theorem

answered Nov 7, 2010 at 13:03

17 votes

What are some slogans that express mathematical tricks?

answered Oct 1, 2010 at 15:47

15 votes

Accepted

Are there any known quantum algorithms that clearly fall outside a few narrow classes?

answered Jul 28, 2010 at 4:16

15 votes

How do professional mathematicians learn new things?

answered Aug 3, 2010 at 4:11

14 votes

Accepted

Secret Santa (expected no of cycles in a random permutation)

answered Dec 21, 2010 at 17:17

13 votes

Accepted

Is a given point in the interior of the convex hull of a given finite collection of points?

answered Sep 17, 2013 at 20:17

13 votes

Most 'obvious' open problems in complexity theory

answered Aug 13, 2010 at 23:52

12 votes

Covering a circle with red and blue arcs

answered Jun 22, 2010 at 16:35

12 votes

Examples of non-rigorous but efficient mathematical methods in physics

answered Dec 13, 2010 at 3:33

12 votes

Accepted

Existence of unknowable algorithms ?

answered Apr 6, 2013 at 16:53

11 votes

Relativistic Cellular Automata

answered Nov 17, 2010 at 15:32

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69 Answers

What recent discoveries have amateur mathematicians made?

If you break a stick at two points chosen uniformly, the probability the three resulting sticks form a triangle is 1/4. Is there a nice proof of this?

Most intricate and most beautiful structures in mathematics

Demonstrating that rigour is important

Undecidability in Conway's Game of Life

How much reading do you do before you attack a problem?

When should a result be made into a paper?

Is there a version of inclusion/exclusion for vector spaces?

Problems known to be in both NP and coNP, but not known to be in P

What are the big problems in probability theory?

Undergraduate math research

Mathematical "urban legends"

Noteworthy, but not so famous conjectures resolved recent years

Is #k-XORSAT #P-complete?

Which mathematical ideas have done most to change history?

Do names given to math concepts have a role in common mistakes by students?

Complete problems for randomized complexity classes

Which math paper maximizes the ratio (importance)/(length)?

Why do statistical randomness tests seem so ad hoc?

Quantum PCP Theorem

What are some slogans that express mathematical tricks?

Are there any known quantum algorithms that clearly fall outside a few narrow classes?

How do professional mathematicians learn new things?

Secret Santa (expected no of cycles in a random permutation)

Is a given point in the interior of the convex hull of a given finite collection of points?

Most 'obvious' open problems in complexity theory

Covering a circle with red and blue arcs

Examples of non-rigorous but efficient mathematical methods in physics

Existence of unknowable algorithms ?

Relativistic Cellular Automata