Mathematics Stack Exchange
Mathematics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [soft-question]

For questions whose answers can't be objectively evaluated as correct or incorrect, but which are still relevant to this site. Please be specific about what you are after.

For questions whose answers cannot be objectively evaluated as correct or incorrect, but which are still relevant to mathematics.se.

12079 questions
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What are some frequently-used facts which should be packed as lemmas?

One situation I've noticed happen to me sometimes is that in solving a few problems I find that there's a step I find myself repeating, and which I'd rather have as a lemma stated/proven once and cited thereafter. A fairly recent example of this…
Amin Idelhaj
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How can I simply write the expression :$y_1 y_2 x_3 x_4x_5+ y_1y_3x_2x_4 x_5+\cdots$

How can I simply write the expression: $$y_1 y_2 x_3 x_4x_5+ y_1y_3x_2x_4 x_5+\cdots=$$ using $\sum $ and $\prod$? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Numberphile
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What is the need of negative numbers?

My question is bit naive, Related to the above question is: Add, Subtract, Multiply and Divide are fundamental "operations", then why we try to provide a sign to numbers as +ve or -ve, to say why are these two (+,-)symbols overloaded (they represent…
Arun Kumar
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What really means when the teacher asks me to iterate on Gauss-Seidel considering a maximum variation of 0.01?

My teacher has a problem that asks me to iterate on Gauss-Seidel equations considering a maximum variation of 0.01. This means making the first iteration and get check if the max of each error is less that 1%? err(x1) = (actual-guess)/actual =…
Totty.js
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Thoughts on proofs

I am a math and statistics 1st year student. Calculus, linear algebra, etc I am very good at and do well. This semester I have a mathematical reasoning proof class which I am really struggling with. It is a completely different way of thinking in…
John
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Bijection between closed and open disks (of the same radius)?

I am contemplating ways of defining a bijection between closed and open disks of the same radius. By these terms I mean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_(mathematics) I am aware that the technique of perceiving disk as a set of circles and then…
Kapitonas
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Is there a branch of math that studies how information can be translated from one domain to another?

I was just thinking to myself, "it would be cool if I could visualize all the classes in the framework on my screen" but then I thought "what if there are more classes than there are pixels?"... Anyway, it seems like something that mathematics might…
Aaron Anodide
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Is all mathematical knowledge stored in any volume(s)?

Let's suppose that humanity is for some reason doomed to extinction, the planet is not going to be destroyed or anything, it's just humanity that is going extinct. For this reason, mathematical community all around the world gets together to store…
Daniel Bonilla Jaramillo
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In what area of math are "events" studied?

I was browsing mathematics articles on Wikipedia when I stumbled across this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_structure. I had never heard of this before, and searching on google didn't seem to find anything. It comes up with a lot of…
RothX
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Is problem solving a inborn skill or a skill which takes lots of hard work and lots of paper?

I asked this because I find myself in situations which trouble me deeply. I solve a deep interesting problem, I learn a new concept, its good but a single question which I'm not able to do, leaves me depressed, sometimes I can't just understand…
CandidFlakes
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A suitable device or software for taking note in class when there are many mathematical formulas.

I will do a mathematical degree. and I need take note in class. But I do not want to use the paper to take note. Any suggestions? I need to write a lot of mathematical formations alongside text many characters.
jack
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Reading textbooks: do we have to prove every theorem?

Suppose I read a(n undergrad) textbook, and get to a theorem in the text. Should I force myself to prove it without looking at the proof, only referring to theorems previously encountered? Apparently this is beneficial. But most of the time I'll…
Sol
  • 325
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Theory without a concrete example.

I heard in class that there is a branch of mathematics that has been studied for some decades, but still has no "concrete example" of the theory. My professor refused to speak out the name of this "theory" for some reason. What kind of math might…
Focus
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How do you improve at competition-type maths?

I'm having trouble doing basic competition-level problems and I'm not too sure why. It's mostly the kind of problems that stem from probability, counting, and recurrence relations word problems. For example, let's take the question below as an…
Crescendo
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What are some great prerequisite books before tackling IMO level books

I need a book list to establish my foundations in the following topics: 1. Algebra (inequalities, functional eq. and etc.) 2. Geometry 3. Combinatorics and Probability 4. Trigonometry 5. Proof writing 6. Problem-solving 7. Number Theory
Proofessor
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