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Tagged with examples big-picture
10
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The use of computers leading to major mathematical advances II
I would like to ask about recent examples, mainly after 2015, where experimentation by computers or other use of computers has led to major mathematical advances.
This is a continuation of a question ...
114
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What notions are used but not clearly defined in modern mathematics?
"Everyone knows what a curve is, until he has studied enough mathematics to become confused through the countless number of possible exceptions."
Felix Klein
What notions are used but not ...
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3
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Intuitions/connections/examples for "eigen-*"
There are many concepts in mathematics that begin with the German word "eigen": eigenvector, eigenvalue, eigenspace, eigenstate, eigenfunction, eigensystem etc. (to name just the most important (?) ...
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What are some fundamental "sources" for the appearance of pi in mathematics?
I thought it might be fun to ask this question as a way of celebrating Pi Day. One way in which people popularize pi is that they say that even though it's defined in terms of properties of a circle, ...
150
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Experimental mathematics leading to major advances
I would like to ask about examples where experimentation by computers has led to major mathematical advances.
A new look
Now as the question is five years old and there are certainly more examples of ...
15
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27
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Justifying a theory by a seemingly unrelated example
Here is a topic in the vein of Describe a topic in one sentence and Fundamental examples : imagine that you are trying to explain and justify a mathematical theory T to a skeptical mathematician ...
218
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140
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Fundamental Examples
It is not unusual that a single example or a very few shape an entire mathematical discipline. Can you give examples for such examples? (One example, or few, per post, please)
I'd love to learn about ...
55
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What are examples of good toy models in mathematics?
This post is community wiki.
A comment on another question reminded me of this old post of Terence Tao's about toy models. I really like the idea of using toy models of a difficult object to ...
7
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Given a sequence defined on the positive integers, how should it be extended to be defined at zero?
This question is inspired by a lecture Bjorn Poonen gave at MIT last year. I have ideas of my own, but I'm interested in what other people have to say, so I'll make this community wiki and post my ...
61
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What's a groupoid? What's a good example of a groupoid? [closed]
Or more specifically, why do people get so excited about them? And what's your favorite easy example of one, which illustrates why I should care (and is not a group)?