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1500 questions
104
votes
27 answers

Mathematicians ahead of their time?

It is said that in every field there’s that person who was years ahead of their time. For instance, Paul Morphy (born 1837) is said to have retired from chess because he found no one to match his technique that very much resembled modern chess…
hb20007
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104
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3 answers

Construct a function which is continuous in $[1,5]$ but not differentiable at $2, 3, 4$

Construct a function which is continuous in $[1,5]$ but not differentiable at $2, 3, 4$. This question is just after the definition of differentiation and the theorem that if $f$ is finitely derivable at $c$, then $f$ is also continuous at $c$.…
Vikram
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104
votes
14 answers

Intuitive explanation of Cauchy's Integral Formula in Complex Analysis

There is a theorem that states that if $f$ is analytic in a domain $D$, and the closed disc {$ z:|z-\alpha|\leq r$} contained in $D$, and $C$ denotes the disc's boundary followed in the positive direction, then for every $z$ in the disc we can…
Pandora
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104
votes
13 answers

Limit of sequence in which each term is defined by the average of preceding two terms

We have a sequence of numbers $x_n$ determined by the equality $$x_n = \frac{x_{n-1} + x_{n-2}}{2}$$ The first and zeroth term are $x_1$ and $x_0$.The following limit must be expressed in terms of $x_0$ and $x_1$ $$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} x_n…
Ananth Kamath
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104
votes
2 answers

GRE Subject Test - Past Papers, Books, Advice

This is not for the Maths part of the General GRE. This is for the GRE Subject Test in Maths. Feel free to add or comment. How do I know the definition of rings or of anything on the GRE given that definitions can vary? What does the subject GRE…
BCLC
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104
votes
10 answers

How is a system of axioms different from a system of beliefs?

Other ways to put it: Is there any faith required in the adoption of a system of axioms? How is a given system of axioms accepted or rejected if not based on blind faith?
Gabriel
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104
votes
4 answers

$X$ is Hausdorff if and only if the diagonal of $X\times X$ is closed

Let $X$ be a topological space. The diagonal of $X \times X$ is the subset $$D = \{(x,x)\in X\times X\mid x \in X\}.$$ Show that $X$ is Hausdorff if and only if $D$ is closed in $X \times X$. First, I tried to show that $X \times X \setminus D$…
Br09
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104
votes
4 answers

Continuous mapping on a compact metric space is uniformly continuous

I am struggling with this question: Prove or give a counterexample: If $f : X \to Y$ is a continuous mapping from a compact metric space $X$, then $f$ is uniformly continuous on $X$. Thanks for your help in advance.
the code
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104
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4 answers

How did Hermite calculate $e^{\pi\sqrt{163}}$ in 1859?

Pretend you are in 1859. What is a fast, efficient, and accurate way to numerically evaluate constants like that to, say, 20 decimal places, using ONLY pen and paper?
Tito Piezas III
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103
votes
21 answers

For any prime $p > 3$, why is $p^2-1$ always divisible by $24$?

Let $p>3$ be a prime. Prove that $24 \mid p^2-1$. I know this is very basic and old hat to many, but I love this question and I am interested in seeing whether there are any proofs beyond the two I already know.
Don De Tina
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103
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12 answers

Using "we have" in maths papers

I commonly want to use the phrase "we have" when writing mathematics, to mean something like "most readers will know this thing and I am about to use it". My primary question is whether this is too colloquial. My secondary question is what the…
Joe Tait
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103
votes
7 answers

Does L'Hôpital's work the other way?

As referred in Wikipedia (see the specified criteria there), L'Hôpital's rule says, $$ \lim_{x\to c}\frac{f(x)}{g(x)}=\lim_{x\to c}\frac{f'(x)}{g'(x)} $$ As $$ \lim_{x\to c}\frac{f'(x)}{g'(x)}= \lim_{x\to c}\frac{\int f'(x)\ dx}{\int g'(x)\…
JMCF125
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103
votes
8 answers

What is the equation for a 3D line?

Just like we have the equation $y=mx+b$ for $\mathbb{R}^{2}$, what would be a equation for $\mathbb{R}^{3}$? Thanks.
Ovi
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103
votes
8 answers

Why is $\frac{987654321}{123456789} = 8.0000000729?!$

Many years ago, I noticed that $987654321/123456789 = 8.0000000729\ldots$. I sent it in to Martin Gardner at Scientific American and he published it in his column!!! My life has gone downhill since then:) My questions are: Why is this so? What…
marty cohen
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103
votes
9 answers

Division by $0$ and its restrictions

Consider the following expression: $$\frac{1}{2} \div \frac{4}{x}$$ Over here, one would state the restriction as $x \neq 0 $, as that would result in division by $0$. But if we rearrange the expression, then: $$\begin{align} \frac12\div\frac4x &=…
Devansh Sharma
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