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Category Archives: What is Mathematics
10 Milestones in the History of Mathematics according to Nati and Me
In 2006, the popular science magazine “Galileo” prepared a special issue devoted to milestones in the History of several areas of science and Nati Linial and me wrote the article about mathematics Ten milestones in the history of mathematics (in … Continue reading
Alef’s Corner: Garbanzo Poisson process
Alef’s previous corner: There is still a small gap in the proof.
Twelves short videos about members of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Victoria
Very nice mathematical videos!
Posted in Academics, Movies, What is Mathematics
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Proof By Lice!
From camels to lice. (A proof promised here.) Theorem (Hopf and Pannwitz, 1934): Let be a set of points in the plane in general position (no three points on a line) and consider line segments whose endpoints are in . Then … Continue reading
Why is Mathematics Possible: Tim Gowers’s Take on the Matter
In a previous post I mentioned the question of why is mathematics possible. Among the interesting comments to the post, here is a comment by Tim Gowers: “Maybe the following would be a way of rephrasing your question. We know … Continue reading
Posted in Open discussion, Philosophy, What is Mathematics
Tagged Foundations of Mathematics, Open discussion, Philosophy, Tim Gowers
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Why is mathematics possible?
Spectacular advances in number theory Last weeks we heard about two spectacular results in number theory. As announced in Nature, Yitang Zhang proved that there are infinitely many pairs of consecutive primes which are at most 70 million apart! This is a sensational achievement. … Continue reading
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? I’d love to learn about further basic or central examples and I think such examples serve … Continue reading
Posted in What is Mathematics
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Rodica Simion: Immigrant Complex
Rodica Simion immigrated to the United States from Romania. She was a Professor of Mathematices at George Washington University untill her untimely death on January 7, 2000. Her poem “Immigrant complex” appeared in : “Against Infinity”, An Anthology of Contemporary … Continue reading
A Proof by Induction with a Difficulty
The time has come to prove that the number of edges in every finite tree is one less than the number of vertices (a tree is a connected graph with no cycle). The proof is by induction, but first you need … Continue reading
