User Terry Tao

375 votes

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

answered Jun 6, 2010 at 18:42

337 votes

Accepted

What are the benefits of writing vector inner products as $\langle u, v\rangle$ as opposed to $u^T v$?

answered Jul 20, 2020 at 16:11

310 votes

Awfully sophisticated proof for simple facts

answered Nov 3, 2010 at 22:19

246 votes

Examples of unexpected mathematical images

answered Aug 10, 2014 at 4:09

240 votes

Why is a topology made up of 'open' sets?

answered Jul 1, 2010 at 20:40

232 votes

Accepted

What is convolution intuitively?

answered Nov 18, 2009 at 4:01

204 votes

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

answered Jun 6, 2010 at 1:48

198 votes

Accepted

Is the series $\sum_n|\sin n|^n/n$ convergent?

answered Sep 29, 2017 at 2:06

185 votes

Thinking and Explaining

answered Sep 15, 2010 at 21:39

177 votes

Knuth's intuition that Goldbach might be unprovable

answered Jun 11, 2010 at 2:03

175 votes

Accepted

The "Dzhanibekov effect" - an exercise in mechanics or fiction? Explain mathematically a video from a space station

answered Nov 27, 2011 at 18:51

141 votes

Intuitive crutches for higher dimensional thinking

answered May 27, 2010 at 3:10

139 votes

Accepted

Is the boundary $\partial S$ analogous to a derivative?

answered Nov 16, 2010 at 20:46

105 votes

Accepted

Why do functions in complex analysis behave so well? (as opposed to functions in real analysis)

answered Nov 2, 2009 at 17:57

101 votes

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

answered Jun 6, 2010 at 18:29

101 votes

A number theory problem where pi appears surprisingly

answered Sep 19, 2022 at 0:25

97 votes

Intuition for Integral Transforms

answered Oct 27, 2009 at 15:26

95 votes

Accepted

Way to memorize relations between the Sobolev spaces?

answered Mar 11, 2010 at 20:02

92 votes

Accepted

Are there proofs that you feel you did not "understand" for a long time?

answered May 18, 2013 at 16:06

90 votes

If I exchange infinitely many digits of $\pi$ and $e$, are the two resulting numbers transcendental?

answered Mar 23, 2017 at 21:23

88 votes

Accepted

How hard is it to compute the number of prime factors of a given integer?

answered Dec 29, 2009 at 20:30

88 votes

Polynomial representing all nonnegative integers

answered Jan 10, 2010 at 18:15

88 votes

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

answered Sep 27, 2010 at 5:58

86 votes

Mathematical habits of thought and action which would be of use to non-mathematicians

answered Sep 9, 2011 at 18:10

85 votes

Why is differentiating mechanics and integration art?

answered May 30, 2011 at 14:48

79 votes

Colloquial catchy statements encoding serious mathematics

answered Nov 1, 2009 at 15:40

78 votes

Accepted

Why is uncomputability of the spectral decomposition not a problem?

answered Aug 24, 2020 at 15:53

75 votes

Accepted

For a finite set A of positive reals, prove that the set A + A - A contains at least as many positive as negative elements

answered May 25, 2023 at 3:09

73 votes

Still Difficult After All These Years

answered Nov 2, 2010 at 22:19

71 votes

Why are there so many smooth functions?

answered Aug 6, 2011 at 3:33

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467 Answers

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

What are the benefits of writing vector inner products as $\langle u, v\rangle$ as opposed to $u^T v$?

Awfully sophisticated proof for simple facts

Examples of unexpected mathematical images

Why is a topology made up of 'open' sets?

What is convolution intuitively?

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

Is the series $\sum_n|\sin n|^n/n$ convergent?

Thinking and Explaining

Knuth's intuition that Goldbach might be unprovable

The "Dzhanibekov effect" - an exercise in mechanics or fiction? Explain mathematically a video from a space station

Intuitive crutches for higher dimensional thinking

Is the boundary $\partial S$ analogous to a derivative?

Why do functions in complex analysis behave so well? (as opposed to functions in real analysis)

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

A number theory problem where pi appears surprisingly

Intuition for Integral Transforms

Way to memorize relations between the Sobolev spaces?

Are there proofs that you feel you did not "understand" for a long time?

If I exchange infinitely many digits of $\pi$ and $e$, are the two resulting numbers transcendental?

How hard is it to compute the number of prime factors of a given integer?

Polynomial representing all nonnegative integers

Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

Mathematical habits of thought and action which would be of use to non-mathematicians

Why is differentiating mechanics and integration art?

Colloquial catchy statements encoding serious mathematics

Why is uncomputability of the spectral decomposition not a problem?

For a finite set A of positive reals, prove that the set A + A - A contains at least as many positive as negative elements

Still Difficult After All These Years

Why are there so many smooth functions?