Category Archives: What is Mathematics

Twelves short videos about members of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Victoria

Posted on May 15, 2017 by

Very nice mathematical videos!

Posted in Academics, Movies, What is Mathematics | Leave a comment

Proof By Lice!

Posted on February 19, 2017 by

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 →

Posted in Combinatorics, What is Mathematics | Tagged | 5 Comments

Why is Mathematics Possible: Tim Gowers’s Take on the Matter

Posted on June 19, 2013 by

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 , , , | 23 Comments

Why is mathematics possible?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

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 →

Posted in Computer Science and Optimization, Number theory, Open discussion, Philosophy, Updates, What is Mathematics | 15 Comments

Fundamental Examples

Posted on January 31, 2010 by

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 | 15 Comments

Rodica Simion: Immigrant Complex

Posted on January 7, 2010 by

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 →

Posted in Art, Poetry, What is Mathematics | Tagged | 4 Comments

A Proof by Induction with a Difficulty

Posted on July 22, 2009 by

  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 →

Posted in Teaching, What is Mathematics | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Ulam and The Future of Mathematics

Posted on May 26, 2009 by

Ulam was scheduled to give a talk at the University of Chicago titled “The future of mathematics.” Stanislaw Ulam was a rather famous mathematician and a major player in building the H-bomb, so a large audience gathered.

Posted in Taxi-and-other-stories, What is Mathematics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Polymath1: Success!

Posted on March 11, 2009 by

 “polymath” based on internet image search And here is a link to the current draft of the paper. Update:  March 26, the name of the post originally entitled “Polymath1: Probable Success!” was now updated to “Polymath1: Success!” It is now becoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Combinatorics, What is Mathematics | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Mathematics, Science, and Blogs

Posted on January 28, 2009 by

Michael Nielsen wrote a lovely essay entitled “Doing science online” about  mathematics, science,  and blogs. Michael’s primary example is a post over Terry Tao’s blog about the Navier-Stokes equation and he suggests blogs as a way of scaling up scientific conversation. Michael is writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, What is Mathematics | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments