Questions of the kind "What's the name for a X that satisfies property Y?"
Questions tagged [terminology]
909 questions
31
votes
9 answers
Is there a "mathematical" definition of "simplify"?
Every mathematician knows what "simplify" means, at least intuitively. Otherwise, he or she wouldn't have made it through high school algebra, where one learns to "simplify" expressions like $x(y+x)+x^2(y+1+x)+3(x+3)$.
But is there an accepted…
Craig Feinstein
- 2,549
22
votes
2 answers
What is a "scholium"?
In a paper I'm working on, I'm tempted to write something like:
Note that the argument above also proves the following result:
Scholium. bla bla
Is this ok? Is it correct to say that a "scholium" is a "corollary of a proof"?
Jairo Bochi
- 2,411
20
votes
5 answers
Pushforward and pullback.
Often I say "pushforward" or "pullback", but I do not know exact
meaning of these words.
Each time I see a map $f\colon X \to Y$, plus:
I have some object $O_X$ associated with $X$ (say measure or subset);
the map $f$ gives me a natural way to…
ε-δ
- 1,785
17
votes
1 answer
How do you pronounce "Hartshorne"?
What is the "correct" pronunciation of Robin Hartshorne's last name? Mostly I hear it pronounced "Har-shorn" although I've also heard "Harts-orn" and maybe a few other variations.
Beren Sanders
- 2,774
10
votes
1 answer
Terminology question: "Transverse" v. "Transversal"
Something that's always bothered me is that the word "transversal" is very commonly used as an adjective, but my understanding is that "transverse" is the correct adjective, and that "transversal" is a noun which means "an object which is transverse…
Jim Conant
- 4,838
7
votes
1 answer
Does the following class of functions have a name?
Consider the functions $\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{C}$ that can be expressed as $\mathbb{C}$-linear combinations of functions of the form $g(n)=n^d\zeta^n$, where $d\geq 0$ is an integer and $\zeta$ is a root of unity. They are the functions which satisfy…
JBorger
- 9,278
5
votes
1 answer
How is Munkres pronounced?
How is the algebraic topologist James R. Munkres' last name "Munkres" pronounced? Is it "Munkrees" or "Munkers" or something else entirely? There is some disagreement among my acquaintances.
Apologies for the non-mathematical question. But I think…
Favst
- 1,985
3
votes
1 answer
What is the term for two figures being congruent and of same orientation?
In the plane, two figures are called congruent exactly if one can be transformed into the other by translation, rotation, and reflection. What if reflection is excluded, that is, preservation of orientation is required? Is there a term for the…
Wolfgang Jeltsch
- 951
2
votes
3 answers
A name for star-graph with long "laces"
An $l$ long $k$-star is a graph with centeral vertex $o$ which is connected to $k$ line graphs of length $l$.
For example a 2-long 3-star looks like:
x1-x1-O-x2-x2
|
x3-x3
$o$ is the central node, $x1,x2,x3$ are the three line-graphs…
2
votes
0 answers
Sphere equation with higher power
The shape described by $x^2 + y^2 +z^2 = 1$ is a sphere. But what do you call the shape described by $x^4 + y^4 +z^4 = 1$? Does it have a name?
Wyck
- 121
2
votes
0 answers
Better word for a general iterated binary operation?
I'm working on an algorithm where a lot of things are summed. My paper has the words "summed", "summation", etc. all over the place.
I've recently found that actually, the algorithm will work differently and maybe better with other binary operations…
Jehan
- 121
2
votes
0 answers
Combination of convex and multiplicative structures
Combination of linear and multiplicative structures gives an algebra. What if instead of a linear structure one has a convex one? Is there a term for this?
A natural example is provided, for instance, by the space of all probability measures on a…
R W
- 16,643
2
votes
1 answer
proper use of the word "stereographic"
This item got one answer after some hours on stackexchange, and I have a feeling I should solicit whatever variety of opinions may be out there:
Draw a line from a point on a sphere, which let us call the north pole, through another point on the…
Michael Hardy
- 11,922
- 11
- 81
- 119
1
vote
1 answer
What is the difference between "up to conjugacy" and "up to conjugation" ?
I see many times the words "conjugacy" and "conjugation", and I don't really get the difference between the two. Especially, when we take an element of a group and want to say that this has some property "up to conjugacy/tion", which one is better,…
Jérémy Blanc
- 7,652
1
vote
0 answers
if a^x + b^y = c^z, 1/x + 1/y + 1/z < 1, how do we call this numbers?
I have equation
$a^x + b^y = c^z, 1/x + 1/y + 1/z < 1$, where $a$, $b$, $c$, $x$, $y$, $z$ are positive integers.
Are there any special name for solutions of this equation?
Vanya Borisyuk
- 51
- 3