Recent Comments
Advertisements
Category Archives: What is Mathematics
Are Natural Mathematical Problems Bad Problems?
One unique aspect of the conference “Visions in Mathematics Towards 2000” (see the previous post) was that there were several discussion sessions where speakers and other participants presented some thoughts about mathematics (or some specific areas), discussed and argued. In … Continue reading
Posted in Combinatorics, Conferences, Open discussion, What is Mathematics
Tagged Misha Gromov
1 Comment
An Invitation to a Conference: Visions in Mathematics towards 2000
Let me invite you to a conference. The conference took place in 1999 but only recently the 57 videos of the lectures and the discussion sessions are publicly available. (I thank Vitali Milman for telling me about it.) One novel … Continue reading
The (Random) Matrix and more
Three pictures, and a few related links. Van Vu Spoiler: In one of the most intense scenes, the protagonist, with his bare hands and against all odds, took care of the mighty Wigner semi-circle law in two different ways. (From … Continue reading
Posted in Combinatorics, People, What is Mathematics
Tagged Alfréd Rényi, András Hajnal, Catherine Rényi, Paul Erdos, Saharon Shelah, Sándor Szalai, Van Vu
1 Comment
10 Milestones in the History of Mathematics according to Nati and Me
Breaking news: David Harvey and Joris Van Der Hoeven. Integer multiplication in time O(nlogn). 2019. (I heard about it from Yoni Rozenshein on FB (חפירות על מתמטיקה); update GLL post. ) _____ Update: There were many interesting comments here and … 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
Leave a comment
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
21 Comments
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
