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 is the word for 4 points being co-dimensional?

I know the word isn't co-dimensional, because duh, but like the equivalent of 3 points being co-planer, 2 points being co-linear, and 1 point being co-pointial I guess. But what would the comparison be for 4 points, 5, 6 etc?
jordantoshplus
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Fiction Author Searching For Formula.

I am undertaking a serious graphic novel project with a team, and we aim to work upwards of one or two decades (simply on the writing and storyboard.) I use to be a math wizard in high-school; but, it's been too long to know quite where to start. …
Lorem Ipsum
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Are all Math proofs just the application of Definition?

I'm going to try and keep this concise. I am a second year undergraduate studying Mathematics & CS, although I am taking some third and fourth year math courses (Abstract algebra & advanced number theory). I used to really enjoy mathematical proofs…
AspiringMat
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How much of mathematical success is based on luck?

I will ask this question based on an example. Recently I was working on the sequences of natural numbers, where the general term of the sequence is given by a polynomial. For obtaining the partial sum of such a sequence, I know I had to find out the…
codetalker
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Do math students who are bound to be high school math teachers have to learn ring theory?

I am just curious whether math students who bound to be high school math teachers have to learn ring theory. If so, why.
Daniel
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Sources of these questions?

I recently stumbled on preprint "36 unsolved problems in number theory", ArXiv:math/0010143. and I was wondering what does 'Gamma $\underline{\phantom{abcbdbe}}$' refer to? (I'm interested in some of the questions but I'm not sure what should I do…
loch
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Are subjects defined formally?

There often are "areas" of math Example: topology, geometry, abstract algebra etc... But can these "areas" be rigorously defined? For example given a sentence $\phi$ in ZFC can one deduce which "subject" this sentence belongs to? Of course a lot…
Sidharth Ghoshal
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Can one describe conic sections using synthetic geometry?

I was curious to know whether synthetic geometry is more powerful than analytical geometry. Take as an example, the conic sections. Can one describe conic sections without the co-ordinate system, without the equations of conic sections? How…
codetalker
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Is there any well-defined method or algorithm to spot any particular pattern in a problem or get to the root of the problem?

I would like to start the discussion with this question: Are proofs or solutions to mathematical problems merely discovered, or can one get the starting point of a proof or a solution using a well-defined method? I will explain the above question…
codetalker
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How to learn mathematics from the building blocks?

From where can I learn mathematics from the basic blocks up? I feel like I have a lot of holes in the mathematics that I know and I would like to see where all those concepts come from. I would like to see what are the ideas that are took from…
Pangi
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Pure mathematics research

What can a first year mathematics undergraduate, who wants to pursue research in pure mathematics, learn in 67 days that will help him in the future?
rhombicosicodecahedron
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A generalization of working problem.

Question: If X finishes for 4 hours a project and Y for 6 hours a project than how long it takes if they work together in same project? These questions for two people are pretty simple, just product of hours divided by their sum. But this logic…
Melina
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Math for "Electrical Engineering & Communication Technology" recommendation

I have the feeling that an engineer should be more comfortable with math than I'm feeling I am right now. I also have a tendency toward learning math not required by the math classes I took, and was always leaning toward more fundamental way of…
user2115
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Investigation Problem to challenge mathematical reasoning

I am a sophomore in college and currently enrolled in a Upper Division Problem Solving class. I was assigned a final project in which I need to come up with some sort of mathematical investigation problem, which needs to be challenging but doable. I…
Marco Neves
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multiplication and division first, then addition and subtraction in equations written in prose

This might be a pretty stupid question, but the following was asked in a german quiz show: "How much is two times two plus two divided by two minus two?" My question now is, is there any literature, if the rule multiplication and division first,…
iqopi
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