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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Learning Mathematics using Khan Academy

I am in my late 20s learning mathematics using Khan Academy. I have always passed my math with borderline grades. Since last year I have joined Khan Academy, I have learned voracious and re-learn every single thing from scratch. I would like to…
ilovetolearn
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14
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2 answers

Pro Mathematicians: how familiar have you remained with the material covered throughout your undergrad? (Outside your field)

Outside of your field of research / application, how much of your undergrad education have you retained? Thought experiment: How would you fare today if handed old exams from your introductory topology / number theory / differential equations /…
o_o_o--
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Where are the geometric figures in those "advanced geometry" textbooks?

It is me again to bother you. Since my last post I started to look at some seemingly "serious" mathematics for background study. Accidentally I went into a university bookshop and came across some "differential geometry", "algebraic geometry",…
Mikael
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What would be a good way to memorize theorems about algebra?

This post is not constructive, so maybe this rather should be posted on CW, but since there is a 'soft-question' tag, i'm posting it here. ===================== I believe the best way to memorize theorems is to draw. It was not hard to illustrate…
Jj-
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Is proofwiki.org a reliable source of math proofs?

Is proofwiki.org a reliable source of math proofs? I'm inspired by this question about wikipedia. This site has much less traffic and not very known, but it appears in some google search about math, and I wonder your "subjective opinion",…
Santropedro
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5 answers

Opposite of Fermat's Last Theorem?

So Wiles' proof showed that no three positive integers $a$, $b$, and $c$ can solve the equation $a^n+b^n=c^n$ for any integer value of $n$ greater than $2$. Now what about the opposite? What does this mean for any $a$ greater than $2$, and $x$, $y$…
Lucas
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What does "rigorous proof" mean?

I have heard several times that some mathematician has given another and more rigorous for an established theorem, but I don't know what does it really mean and what differences makes it to be more 'rigorous'. My understanding of a proof is that a…
MKR
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5 answers

A request for a suggestion for a mathematics talk aimed at first year and second year undergraduate students in science

I am to give a mathematics talk in a couple of weeks and I am writing to request suggestions for possible topics of the talk. The relevant information is as follows: (1) The audience for the talk consists of first and second year students in…
Amitesh Datta
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9 answers

How to prove existence of solutions without constructing one?

For some problems, it is difficult to get an explicit solution. But it is very good if we can prove there do exist some solutions though we can't find them. Is it possible to prove existence of solutions without constructing one? Can you show some…
Shiyu
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3 answers

Is our interest in $\mathbb{R}$ "historical"?

In the process of a topology course, it occurred to me that a number of concepts are defined with reference to $\mathbb{R}$ and standard subsets thereof. For instance, we consider metrics, which are of course maps into $\mathbb{R}$ (specifically the…
AJY
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1 answer

Studying Graduate Level Mathematics Outside Lecture Hours

I am not exactly sure if this should be posted on math.se or academia.se, but I think the question is more mathematical in nature. I am a first year graduate student in mathematics, and I would like to think that I am a diligent student at that. My…
Kurome
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4 answers

Do people whose native languages are read right-to-left experience mathematical statements differently?

When I see the equation $$A = B$$ the first idea to occur to me is that $A$ can be transformed into $B$. Although of course $$B = A$$ has the same content, to me it connotes rather that $B$ can be transformed into $A$. I imagine that this is because…
Eli Rose
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Is there fundamental goal of mathematics?

I did not ask this question before scaring of down-voting but could not stop the curiosity and cannot find the answer by searching the web. In physics we are looking for say smallest mass or particle, many many years ago it was electron may be,…
Creator
  • 3,128
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3 answers

What are examples of mathematicians who don't take many notes?

I see people like Terry Tao and others take extensive notes. But is this really necessary? When I do this I feel like I am rewriting a textbook.
Ross
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Is it usual that a professor never proves a theorem in a class?

I'm taking "real analysis" this year and the lecturer's major is PDE. What he does is literally reading texts except proofs. This drives me crazy, so I asked the professor why he is not giving any proofs, and then he told me, "I'm not interested in…
John. p
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