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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Pure mathematics's marriage with sets

Is all of pure mathematics tightly coupled with sets ? I love mathematics but for over 2 weeks now all i have read has been somehow tied with sets. i am having such a hard time dealing with constant involvement of sets and proofs in all the current…
Comic Book Guy
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Can an electronic computer (stochastic) simulation be used as a "formal" proof of a tedious mathematical problem?

It seems like math purely "on paper" vs. purely on a computer both have their advantages and disadvantages. However, when combined together, they seem to greatly increase the possibilities and help confirm each methods results. Some…
David
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Philosophers who became mathematicians -- how did they do it? And who were they?

(I hope this is not too personal. If you want to get to the point scroll down to the end, where my questions are.) I'm a philosopher who's been -- gradually -- coming around to mathematics. I have wide interests in philosophy, although I tend…
لويس العرب
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Studying mathematics in France (universities and grandes ecoles)

I am currently a senior in Albania and would like to study mathematics in France. However, I'm not quite sure if the universities or the so-called "grandes ecoles" provide the best quality of mathematics programs and how exactly are their programs…
Esli
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resources to get a taste of advanced (graduate) math?

There are a lot of ideas which I'd like to learn more about but that would take years to reach if I follow a traditional path (where "traditional path" means a kind of education where things are learned in some kind of strict order with full…
boop
  • 21
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Mapping one problem to another. General Procedure

Please consider this as a soft-question as this question might be vague and please forgive me for not being clear. Is there a general procedure of how to map one problem to another? For example let S and L be two problems. Then solution to S…
Boby
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Mathematical formula representing human voice

I'm only confident that my question is reasonable, but I'm not confident that it's reasonable to be asked here. I am a physics undergraduate, and up to my knowledge, any sound, no matter what it is of, that is being sensed by a human ear "sensors"…
kalkanistovinko
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Way to add scores in Fermi Quiz

I am setting up a Fermi Quiz. A quiz where you have to estimate the answers to complicated questions, your answers may be out by orders of magnitude. A question may be: "How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?" The correct answer being around…
user288447
  • 248
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SAT Math problem

In a volleyball league with 4 teams, each team plays exactly 2 games with each other 3 teams in the league. What is the total number of games played in this league? the book says the answer is 12, i wondered how come is that?
Ned
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$\sqrt 2+ \sqrt{3} \approx 3.14$

The square $$\sqrt 2+ \sqrt{3} \approx 3.14$$ Is this a coincidence or is their some mathemtical significance?
user34304
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Define strange operators

How can I render the connected sum of $n$ topological spaces (or other quite strange topological operations) in a "product-like" manner? What I'm looking for is writing, for example $$ {\Large{*}}_{i=1}^n G_i $$ for the free product of n groups. How…
fosco
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Help Writing a PDF for a Math Course

I have to write up notes on a math course and would absolutely love to make my notes look very similar to this: Using libreoffice, with texmaths, does anyone know settings, i.e. text format, page layout etc... etc... I should use? (I'm pretty sure…
bolbteppa
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What do people mean by "(this piece of maths) is hard/difficult"?

Sometimes when I talk to my maths professors, they would say "this piece of maths (e.g. differential geometry) is hard". What do they exactly mean by "hard" (difficult) - when clearly they're the experts in the field and they've been doing it for…
yieng
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How can I know which theorem to use to prove another one?

In class this year a part of what we do is re learning theorems etc from previous years, but a more rigorous way. However, when I suggest a way to prove those theorems/properties/..., I often get an answer like 'well it's true that this way would…
Hippalectryon
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How can I learn to write proofs more formally or rigourusly?

I'm studying math for a while now and still, even if I understand the question, on my own I'll probably mess up with a very informal "proof" that is mostly verbal. Even if I write down the definitions and have them in front of me, I still am not…
GinKin
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