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00:00
What is your question?
I need a formula for the last line.
You need to use summation symbols.
yeah. what counts as a 'formula'? might as well use a formula for the first line.
Indeed …
"x = \sum_{j=0}^3 x_j 2^j" would be a nice way of compressing that. once we have sums involving sums and products of sums that both need indices, could get dicey.
00:02
Ok. I will try to use MathJax and make the question.
Sorry for my English. I am bad at English.
disculpa aceptada.
@leslietownes I need to obtain the results related to extremum of convex functional. I don't know much about the conditions. I am like standing at the see shore with the question: what can you say about the extremum of convex functional? all the conditions and results are below the horizon. :'(
Is it possible to ask reference type question in main site?
You are saying functional and function. Can you be more specific?
sure, but people will ask what domains you are interested in, and what sets you are optimizing over.
they may also be curious about your background, so e.g. they know not to bring banach spaces into it, or they know not to bother with the reflexive case.
a motivating example or set of examples would be helpful.
i sound like ted.
Insult noted.
00:17
here's a starting point. mathoverflow.net/questions/123714/… (on MO, not MSE) is a question about convex functionals. it takes some facts for granted (but sketches their proofs), references a book, and (in comments to the answer) an example of such a functional is given.
is all of that understandable to you? none of it? something in the middle?
yeah. thank you. I understand bit.
copper.hat might know more, all of the functional analysis books i had probably didn't discuss this so much. (one of the commenters mentions brezis, which i don't have - and it seems to be in connection with a technical point and not the main question)
@TedShifrin sir, I need the result for functional. sorry for the mistype.
00:32
You need to give explicit examples of what you’re trying to look at.
@TedShifrin Actually, In an entrance test of PhD(ina telegram group), I see a question: "What can you say about the extremum of convex functional?. This is the motivation behind this.
Sounds like you need to do some reading in your own field to know the context.
01:04
If $W$ $W'$ are cobordisms between $M$ and $N$ , does it follow that $W$ and $W'$ are diffeomorphic?
Certainly not.
Draw some pictures.
01:42
oooohhh, pictures.
Hai copper hat
Can you suggest some reading on extremum of convex functional. I am searching for calculus like results. is there any result, extremum lies on the boundary?
I have no idea.
I know one thing. result will be used in PDE.
is there any result similar to functional?
02:27
$1.11$ Theorem** Suppose $S$ is an ordered set with the least-upper-bound property, $B \subset S$, $B$ is not empty, and $B$ is bounded below. Let $L$ be the set of all lower bounds of $B$. Then $\alpha = \sup L$ exists in $S$, and $\alpha = \inf B$.
I am curious why is element of L is in S?
The theorem hasn't mentioned elements of L is in S but it states that in proof.
Or did rudin made a mistake?
And if L is not in S then L will not have lub property.
And the proof will not be valid.
Where am I wrong?
where else would they be?
you're working inside $S$
@Thorgott Where is it mentioned? Can you point it out? I see only "B is subset of S".
L is just set of all lower bounds of B that doesn't imply L is subset of S.
Or do you assume L is subset of S because of the proof?
02:46
Ninja fans take a major L
define L for me
$S$ is the universe.
yesterday, by one potato two potato
I wonder if this argument works: Since $F$ has a constant rank, say $r$, if $p\in M$ then we can find a smooth chart $(U,\varphi)$ at $p$ and $(V,\psi)$ at $F(p)$ s.t. with respect to this coordinate, $F$ has representation $\hat{F}(x_1,...,x_r,...,x_m)\to (x_1,...,x_r,0,...,0)$ where $m$ is the dimension of $M$ (and denote the dimension of $N$ by $n$). Since $\varphi,\psi$ are bijective, $\hat{F}$ should be surjective by assumption. Hence, $r = n$.
If $F:M\to N$ has rank $r$ then for $p\in M$, from the rank theorem, we can find a smooth chart $(U,\varphi)$ near $p$ and $(V,\psi)$ near $F(p)$ s.t. $F(U)\subset V$ and $\hat{F}(x_1,\ldots,x_r,\ldots,x_m) = (x_1,\ldots,x_r,0,\ldots,0)$. Since $F$ is open, $F(U)$ is open and as $F(U)\subset V$, $(F(U),\psi)$ is a smooth chart of $N$ near $F(p)$. Now,
$$\hat{F}:\varphi(U)\xrightarrow{\varphi^{-1}}U\xrightarrow{F}F(U)\xrightarrow{\psi}\psi(F(U))$$
Now, $\varphi^{-1},\psi$ are bijective and $F$ is surjective, $\hat{F}$ is surjective.
@Thorgott I was thinking about this yesterday.
03:03
@Thorgott pewee
@TedShifrin I just want to know why? How do you know that?
03:15
Because everything mentioned is subsets of $S$. If you’re going to try to read Rudin, you need a lot of math and proof experience first.
03:25
@TedShifrin So what kind of experience tells you that L is subset of S. There must be an indicatior.
What indication? I have taken course on logic and I can't see it.
it's in definition 1.7. from this you can deduce that a lower bound of B, a subset of an ordered set S, is among other things an element of S.
$\begin{matrix}{\rm AM}(32,98)=65\\{\rm GM}(32,98)=56\end{matrix}$
The arithmetic and geometric means of these two numbers are reverses of each other.
This is the only nontrivial solution where the means are two digits.
04:27
@Unknownx Well, not sure guru is the right term for me, but anyway... That is a big question, you would have to narrow it down a little to get some reasonable response. A standard text is Rockafellar's "Convex Analysis".
05:18
Is there any good source to practice smooth manifold theory? (Problem set for example) Many of the exercise problems in Lee's book are about calculations.
06:14
@copper.hat hello, I have look in to the index of the book. it is talking about convex function. I need the results on the extremum of convex functional.
 
1 hour later…
07:15
If $P \subset M$ is a submanifold of $M$ and $U\subset TM$, then the domain of normal exponential map of $P$ is defined to be $\Epsilon_P = NP \cap U$. What exactly is this space? How can normal vectors of $P$ intersect tangent vectors of $M$? Don't normal vectors of $P$ belong in $NM$?
 
1 hour later…
08:29
Is there any clever way to calculate the radius of the image circle under the map $T:\Bbb R_{\infty}\to\Bbb C_{\infty}$ by $z\mapsto -{1\over c^2}{1\over z+d/c}$?
 
3 hours later…
11:18
@onepotatotwopotato yeah, that does work. of course, you do need to pay attention to the fact that $\psi(F(U))$ can be any open subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$, but its openness is enough to guarantee that $r<n$ would violate surjectivity, so you do get $r=n$ indeed.
@Lemon Normal vectors of P in M are tangent vectors of M. NM doesn't even make sense here. You can only talk about normal vectors and hence a normal bundle for a submanifold of a given manifold. A normal vector needs to live in some ambient space.
11:52
@Thorgott But proving $F$ is open is hard I guess. Surjectivity should be necessary otherwise the statement is 'constant rank map is open.'
But if I follow the proof of 'smooth submersion is open'...
${z\over\sin(\sqrt{z})} = {z\over \sqrt{z}\sum_{n=0}^\infty {(-1)^n\over (2n+1)!}z^n} = {\sqrt{z}\over\sum_{n=0}^\infty {(-1)^n\over(2n+1)!}z^n}.$ Singularity of this function is a branch cut and zeros of $\sum_{n=0}^\infty{(-1)^n\over(2n+1)!}z^n$ but how can I find the zeros of that function?
Btw following the 'smooth subm open' proof strategy doesn't work. The proof uses the surjectivty of coordinate representation.
12:34
@NotTfue "Let $L$ be the set of all lower bounds of $B$ [in $S$]." I don't see where else the lower bounds of $B$ would be located. There is no superset of $S$ mentioned, and we are talking about the least-upper-bound property of $S$. It seems to be a sensible assumption, though it was not explicitly mentioned.
"He took a deep breath and pressed on." Of what did he take a deep breath?
@onepotatotwopotato the image of which circle? The unit circle centered at $0$?
@robjohn I mean the image of $T(\Bbb R_{\infty})$. It should be a circle because I forced it to be a circle. Here, $c,d\neq 0$.
Radius of the circle $T(\Bbb R_{\infty})$
Oh, the domain is $\mathbb{R}$. I was looking at it as an LFT since the variable was $z$.
It is LFT. I restricted to $\Bbb R$. The domain of this map is $\Bbb C_{\infty}$.
The only method I can come up with right now is calculating the image of three points -1,0,1 and finding the radius with some elementary geometry which is tedious.
12:51
I think it would be $\frac1{2|c|^2|\operatorname{Im}(d/c)|}$
At what point is $x+d/c$ smallest in absolute value? ($x\in\mathbb{R}$)
$-\operatorname{Re}(d/c)$
the value is $|\operatorname{Im}(d/c)|$
yes
so the circle goes from $0$ to a point $\frac1{|c|^2|\operatorname{Im}(d/c)|}$ away
so the radius would be half
That's a cool observation. Thank you
13:42
for $g$ analytic around $0$ is there a linear map connecting $g(x)$ to $\sum_{n \ge 2} (g(n^{-s})-g(0))$?
 
1 hour later…
15:05
Here’s a small silly question. The conclusion to one of my students’ discussion problems reduces to comparing tan(20 deg) to 0.35. It turns out the former is 0.364, so that’s slightly larger. What I’m curious about is how one would deduce that inequality if one lacked a calculator
Obviously 0.35 is quite arbitrary here, so this may not be the ‘best’ choice for a lower bound
 
1 hour later…
16:22
@Semiclassic As far as I know, $\tan(\pi/9)$ is not well-known. I guess you could do some triple angle stuff with $\pi/3$.
17:04
@TedShifrin So the determinant corresponds to signed volume, but why do we care about ‘signed’? It gives us orientation, but why care? None of linear algebra deals with orientation… Or is it perhaps a shortcut that because requiring multi linearly and that linearly dependent vectors go to 0 gets a signed quantity….
Orientation is an algebraic condition and it is highly important in geometry and more advanced math.
But @TedShifrin not in lin alg, so how to motivate the def without suddenly introducing the notion of orientation?
@TedShifrin It just seems a bit weird to me to suddenly talk about signed volume. What’s a problem in linear algebra that requires signed volume to solve? I’m only talking of matrixes and other lin alg not multi lin or multi variable calc…
17:26
I am not going to limit mathematics to high-school level linear algebra.
1
Q: Prove that $\mathbb{Q}$ with the topology induced by the usual distance is not complete.

chervasssMy question is not really about proving this fact. Instead, it is about the sense of the sentence. What does "the topology induced by the usual distance" mean? I never understood it clearly. To prove the proposition, I thought of the Cauchy sequence defined by $a_n=\left(1+\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n}$...

People are trying to prove topological spaces complete
Weird
Yeah, they should be talking about metric space structures. Sloppy thinking.
@TedShifrin ok but the det is introduced in basic lin alg, so how do you motivate it? The entire thing of ‘signed’ suddenly coming is is unnatural @TedShifrin
At the low levels, @Shin, if you want to define the cross product of two vectors as a vector, the answer actually depends on the orientation of $\Bbb R^3$. It's for this reason that physicists call it a pseudo-vector, not a vector.
@Semiclassical If pressed, I would use the formula for $\tan(3\theta)$ on each of them, and compare $\tan(60^\circ)$ to $\tan(3\arctan0.35)$
but, like, numerical methods are a whole thing and I don't know much about it
17:30
Signs show up all over the place. When you do projections, you get signed distances. And determinant changes sign if you switch the vectors — that's a sign.
DogAteMy, I wasn't sure what the point of Semiclassic's question was. Were his students really not allowed to use calculators? I doubt that.
Heading out for a while.
@Shinrin-Yoku If you have a "path in the space of matrices" (a continuous family of matrices $M_t$, $t\in[0,1]$) where $M_0$ and $M_1$ have opposite orientations, there's some matrix in the middle (some $M_{t'}$) that's not surjective
A matrix has positive determinant if there's a path from the identity matrix $I$ to it through surjective matrices
@AkivaWeinberger My problem is that why should one care about ‘signed’ volume when solving problems about matrices, without already introducing the det because I want to motivate it.
I’d understand why one would care s
about volume
'Cause the formula for unsigned volume is more ugly?
It's $|ad-bc|$ (for a 2x2 matrix) and it makes one wonder what $ad-bc$ is
@AkivaWeinberger Wait is there no way to make unsigned come out when listing properties of the vol function( eg alternatively) ?
We know vol(u,v)=vol(u,ku+v), right?
if vol(u,v) means the area of the parallelogram spanned by u and v
and also vol(ku,v)=k vol(u,v)
17:38
Sure
So we get $vol(u,v)=vol(u,u+v)=vol(u-(u+v),u+v)$
${}=vol(-v,u+v)=vol(-v,u+v+(-v))=vol(-v,u)$
${}=-vol(v,u)$
so those properties tell us that it flips sign when we swap the vectors
It's useful to trace out that manipulation geometrically
keeping track of what parallelogram is being used at each moment
@Shinrin-Yoku Another thing to think about is the concept of a "signed length". Say we have an oriented line
like say I draw a horizontal line on my piece of paper and decide that going to the right is positive and going to the left is negative
and I choose two points. The signed length from A to B gives us two pieces of information: how far apart they are, and which one is to the right
If B is to the right of A it's positive; if A is to the right of B it's negative
Hmm @AkivaWeinberger so I guess the answer really is, is that a very natural derivation gives us signed volume, and in case we ever need unsigned we can take absolute value. But it ‘turns out’ that signed volume is actually a more useful quantity
and the formula is just B-A, whereas unsigned distance is |B-A|
@Shinrin-Yoku I suppose, yeah
By the way, thinking still about signed distance:
With signed distance, it's always true that the signed distance from A to B plus the signed distance from B to C equals the signed distance from A to C.
With unsigned distance, that's only true if B is in between A and C.
If B isn't in between, you need to subtract one of the distances rather than add it.
Similarly, the signed area of a triangle UVW equals (vol(U,V)+vol(V,W)+vol(W,U))/2. @Shinrin-Yoku
(Think of vol(U,V)/2 as the area of the triangle 0UV.)
With unsigned volume, that's only true if the origin is inside the triangle.
If the origin is outside of the triangle, we get some overlap. Signed volumes perfectly deal with that.
In fact, this formula works for finding the area of any polygon.
@Shinrin-Yoku You can see this in action about six minutes into this video:
A similar formula gives us volumes of polyhedra in 3D. (The volume of a tetrahedron 0UVW is vol(U,V,W)/6 I think)
17:54
@Shinrin-Yoku the determinant is more than a volume, it also gives an orientation. as a loose analogy, consider the number $-2$, we can think of it as giving a length $|{-2}|$ and a direction $-1$. similarly, the determinant gives a volume $|\det A|$ and an orientation $\operatorname{sgn} \det A$.
@AkivaWeinberger thanks
@copper.hat I understand that, but my question is why think about signed volume in the first place?
Are there any problems in lin alg which require signed volume @copper.hat
orientation matters, think about screwdrivers.
There are few problems in lin alg that require volumes at all, if you believe Sheldon Axler
I agree it matters, but is it useful enough in a problem which motivates the determinant?
(He wrote a paper called "Down With Determinants!" and a textbook called "Linear Algebra Done Right", both avoiding determinants!)
17:58
@copper.hat
Image from Keenan Crane
Note that that triple product equals vol(qi,qj,qk), or perhaps better notation would be det(qi,qj,qk)
Since the volume of the tetrahedron with vertices 0,qi,qj,qk is det(qi,qj,qk)/6, this formula isn't surprising when the origin is inside the polyhedron.
It's kinda magic that all the negative volumes cancel perfectly even when the origin isn't inside the polyhedron.
Here, the sum is over triangles ijk of the polyhedron (we're assuming all of the faces are triangles)
@Shinrin-Yoku So if you want a problem to motivate signed areas and volumes, you can use the problem of finding (unsigned!) areas and volumes of more complicated shapes.
@Shinrin-Yoku i'm just saying that the determinant is not just volume, so you cannot justify it on the basis of volume alone.
Sure, but they asked precisely the reverse question
i mean it is similar to justifying negative numbers.
18:24
@Thorgott thats what i don't get. why does normal vecotrs of $P$ live in the tangent space of $M$ and not normal space of M$$?
@copper.hat such negativity!
that's what I'm saying, yes
there is no such thing as "the normal space of $M$"
you can only talk about normal spaces when you have a submanifold of a larger manifold
it's not a notion intrinsic to a manifold
@Lemon Think about linear algebra and orthogonal complement of a vector subspace.
18:43
@Thorgott oh wow...you are right.
Can anybody help on this?
0
Q: Equivalent definitions for Unboundedness of Lp?

Farhad RouhbakhshConsider the following (Lp). $$ \min \;\; \mathbf{c} \cdot \mathbf{x}\\ \text{s.t. } A\mathbf{x} \geq \mathbf{b} \\ \mathbf{x} \geq \mathbf{0} \\ $$ If $S$ is the feasable set of (Lp), Prove that the following definitions are equivalent. (Lp) is unbounded if $\; ∃ \{x^v\}_{v}⊆ S $ $ ;cx^v →...

(Lp) minimize is unbounded if ∀ x∈S, ∃y ∈ S ; cy<cx. Is this definition true?
19:07
Is there anybody here who knows Linear Programming and can help me? I have a question from the definition of unboundedness of LP.
19:21
you only just asked your question, why don't you wait a while and see if someone answers?
@Semiclassical 0.35=7/20, which makes the arithmetic fairly simple, assuming you're doing it totally by hand. Let $\tan\theta=7/20$, then use the identity for $\tan3\theta$, which is pretty easy to derive from the tan sum identity. A few lines of arithmetic gives $\tan3\theta=8057/5060$, which is less than $\tan60°=\sqrt3$.
@copper.hat My question is from basic definitions. Its really not a question, its a request for clarification.
Perhaps, while you wait, you could check other textbooks?
the result requires some work, it is not immediate, if that is what you are asking.
you need to show that if the LP is bounded below then there is a solution that attains that bound.
this is a fairy standard result in LPs
19:46
if at least one of the coordinates of c is negative, you can pick the corresponding coordinate in one arbitrary x in S and make it as large as you like, building the sequence that is required
you can do this because all coordinates of x are positive.
@copper.hat But if all coordinates of c are positive, which means c>=0, that's where it gets hard :(
@copper.hat Do you think the fact that moving in reverse direction of the gradient decreases the amount of cx is useful here?
20:13
@copper.hat Another idea! If we suppose that S is closed (I'm not sure of that), then since S is non-empty there exists a number such as λ that the intersection of all x in S such that ||x|| <= λ is not empty. This intersection is closed and bounded so its compact (Heine Borell theorem) and f = cx attains its minimum on it. Since all coordinates of c are positive, this minimum is the minimum of cx for ALL x in S.
That means if all coordinates of c are positive, then LP is not unbounded! So this case doesn't occur and the only case that LP can be unbounded is that at least one coordinate of c is negative.
The only thing left for me to be sure of is whether S is closed or not. I suspect it is, because S can be obtained by a finite intersection of the solutions of linear inequalities which each of them are closed. for example solutions of ax + by + cz >= d is a closed Region in R^3. Is my reasoning true @copper.hat? I hope I'm not writing for nobody
20:32
Thanks for your attention guys =))
20:46
May I suggest @FarhadRouhbakhsh you copy and paste your answer above as an answer to your posted question, and see what others say about it?
@FarhadRouhbakhsh i have a full time job and reply here when i have spare time. If you are in a rush, this is not the place to be asking.
does someone have some knowledge about functors?
it would be somewhat alarming if the answer to that question were no
I don't understand the following problem:
I don't understand how to think about f_*
because it's domain and codomain is a functor so how does this map f_* works?
@leslietownes Hello leslie. Can I ask something about functional analysis?
20:56
overtherainbow: i would circle back to the definition of 'natural transformation'. a natural transformation can also be "applied" (not sure that's the right term) to objects, as part of its definition.
@Jakobian yes but you are deeper in the weeds than i ever was (or at least have been in 20 years). fire away!
@copper.hat Ok thank you for your attention I thought you were online and had time for reading my answer. Sorry for interruption dude
@leslietownes perfect thanks!
How to solve for "r" rate?
https://www.varokas.com/content/images/downloaded_images/Solve-Equations-numerically-with-Newton-s-Method/1-qZqxzla5Y4H68hTX37s_rA.png
V/T = r(1-r^n)/(1-r)
@user4539917 Maybe I will do that. By the way do you think it is correct?
So, there is something called the James characterization of reflexivity, you might recall it. It's a geometric description of it. Basically, it says that a space $X$ is reflexive iff there is some $\theta\in (0, 1)$ such that for any sequence $x_n\in S_X$ with $\inf \{\|x\|: x\in \text{conv}\{x_n\}\} \geq \theta$ there is $N$, $u\in \text{conv}\{x_1, ..., x_N\}$, $v\in \text{conv}\{x_{N+1}, ...\}$ such that $\|u-v\| \leq \theta$.
20:59
Or any method suggestions?
Now, I want to prove that if a space $X$ is not reflexive then there are sequences $x_n\in S_X$ and $x_n^*\in S_{X^*}$ such that $\langle x_m^*, x_n\rangle = \frac{1}{2}$ for $m\leq n$ and $0$ otherwise.
apparently it should follow from James theorem above, but I'm not seeing it
ok, i've seen this before. let me think about it.
21:22
@Jakobian Geometric!!?? By leslie’s standards, maybe.
It's very geometric though
@leslietownes I know that C^{op} is the category which reverse the morphisms. But if I take a morphism $g:U\rightarrow V$ in C^{op} is it then $g:V\rightarrow U$ in $C$?
@TedShifrin banach space 'geometry' is bizarro world. in this world, i think the thought might be that it's 'geometric' because it only involves the original space (e.g. it does not refer to the dual)
make of that what you will
I think it's geometric because it uses only distances and convex sets
even $\inf \{\|x\| : x\in \text{conv}\{x_n\}\}\geq \theta$ can be interpreted geometrically, as $\{x_n\}$ covering only a part of the sphere
21:38
yeah, that's more precisely what i meant
Hello, all. Long time, no chat
hi clarinetist!
Hey clarinet!
Wow, I haven't been here since February
How time flies
Jakobian metric space topology is not geometry to many of us.
I referred someone to you a few weeks ago, Clarinet. You should find a ping if you search :)
21:42
I have stuff to be doing, but will gradually try to make my way active here again in the next few months
@TedShifrin Looks like I can't ping them
What are you doing these days, in a few sentences?
but the long story short is, those are all fundamentally loss functions
and you have to just choose which one to use
I have no idea what you’re saying!
@TedShifrin Re-established myself back in the private sector. Looking at academia in horror. Thinking about applying to Georgia Tech's M.S. in computer science. Data science is a mess.
@TedShifrin it's bold to compare functional analysis to metric space topology
21:46
This old post: https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/61974821#61974821

Basically, all of those are loss functions. You can think of loss functions as metrics which are usually dependent on a theoretical "true" value and a estimated value (hence statistics comes into the picture). If you want to do stats, you need to choose a loss function. Mathematically, it's mostly an arbitrary choice. In practice, it's more of a tradeoff between precision and explainability.

Stats spends some time going through various loss functions and describing what the "best" estimators are for each lo
It's different, we have norm and convexivity
Anyway, I think metric spaces aren't that fundamental. They're just nice spaces that cover lots of examples
Geometry has a very different meaning to me … past the figures of high school geometry.
I am not a fan of going back to do a second MS degree, for the record, but I think I have to for my own job security.
Ah @Clarinet … I had no recollection of that content.
Stats degrees are not really showing their worth in industry work, and I think people are noticing that
21:50
I have no idea what is or isn’t secure as democracy is about to crumble.
I've been only casually searching for jobs, and was rejected from a data scientist position (not a senior one, mind you) for not having professional experience with natural language processing, for example, after a phone interview
Ultimately, the reality I think is that computer science graduates are getting the jobs now
I think stat is a weaker degree than math or CS, generally. Just my intuition based on advising, etc.
Yeah, I have started to become cynical about the stats degree, honestly
I was venting about how you could just go straight to a PhD in stats (at least in the US) with a math bachelor's degree
Stats curricula in the US is generally disconnected: a BS does not help you with an MS, an MS does not help you with a PhD
In general, it’s the coursework, quality of faculty, and masters thesis that probably matter.
In fact, you usually go through the same material in all three levels, just with different math backgrounds assumed
21:54
Math is hard! 🤷‍♂️🙄
there are a number of places that will give some form of stat masters in conjunction with enough coursework, to a phd in basically any other grad program (i.e. to people who would not have been admitted to a stat department on their own). i don't know of math or CS masters that do this.
If you want to get through an MS easily, you need one semester of real analysis, multivariable calc, and linear algebra
If you want to get through a PhD easily, you need at least 3-4 semesters of analysis + functional analysis on top of the MS requirements
Real analysis only required at the doctoral level some places!
Most BS stats degrees don't cover this content
@TedShifrin From what I've seen, this is actually most
but yes
@TedShifrin At UCR, it is now possible to complete a PhD without taking real analysis. :/
21:57
We couldn’t even get the stat dept to require proof-based linear algebra for the undergrads
@XanderHenderson you’re kidding!
@TedShifrin Nope.
@TedShifrin These people are in for a rude awakening when they hit grad school
Well, as in math, relatively few go to grad school.
PhD students are required to complete four core course sequences before advancing to candidacy. At this moment, there are six core sequences offered: real anal, complex anal, PDE, topology, and algebra.
@XanderHenderson There is a CSU, from what I recall, which only requires Calc 1 for their undergrad stats degree. They also have an MS degree which is substantially watered down.
21:59
Oh, we were talking stat PhD, not math, Xander!
@TedShifrin Ah. I was talking math. Where it is more frightening to me that one can get a PhD w/o real anal.
@TedShifrin I suppose you've read about CMF?
@Clarinetist Arguably, one doesn't even need calculus to do stats.
I agree. But also frightening that they might not know the inverse fn thm or what a smooth manifold is.
CMF?
@TedShifrin Indeed. Oh, I left off the sixth corse sequence: "applied mathematics".
22:01
@XanderHenderson Having done stats in practice... you really need it. Most of stats involves taking $n \to \infty$ and unless you've worked through the theory, you'd have no idea
Which seems to be a combination of numerical analysis and modeling.
@TedShifrin California Mathematics Framework
@Clarinetist Yeah, but you don't need to take calculus to take n to infinity.
Oh, I know something, not much. GA went through this 12 years ago.
@TedShifrin Last I heard, there was a proposal to delay algebra to 9th grade for the sake of equity, and whoever's spearheading that is back to the drawing board, delaying the project
22:02
And I would imagine that the tools that are most useful to statisticians are more on the discrete side, e.g. limits of sequences. This topic is covered in calculus (typically, in the second semester, where calc I isn't going to help, anyway).
@XanderHenderson Not really. It's mostly hypothesis testing in the continuous case and dealing with asymptotic behavior, as well as what to do when you can't reasonably employ asymptotics
@Clarinetist I still don't see why calculus is really needed for that.
But I have long argued that, aside from making sure that math departments are funded, there is no reason why math departments should be teaching calculus to much of anyone.
@XanderHenderson It is not touched on until the masters-level courses (in the US) in a mathematical statistics course, which requires analysis as a prerequisite
Physics departments should be teaching the calculus they need to their majors, biology departments should be teaching their version of calculus, etc.
Statisticians have their own forms of convergence they are concerned about, and it's impossible to make them precise without calculus
22:06
@Clarinetist Sure, I've studied some of that stuff (I took some of the actuarial exams, back in the day, and my BA is officially in statistics). I guess my point is that what statisticians do is so distinct from what mathematicians do that a calculus class taught in a mathematics department is going to provide little preparation for someone who wants to study statistics.
@XanderHenderson Oh of course, no denying that
I should also mention that the stuff I'm talking about is above the scope of the actuarial exams, too
I don't know of any bachelor's degree in stats in the US that covers this information
@Clarinetist I wouldn't imagine so.
e.g., Delta method, Wilks' theorem
Those are things that I had to refer to every day as a statistician in my last role
You'd have someone throwing a small-sample problem at you and using pre-packaged code to something, and then you'd have to tell them their results don't make sense because it relies on those two things, which are asymptotic in nature when they have a sample size of like, say, 6
Indeed. But, again, I don't think that calculus really helps to prepare anyone for that.
Calculus in the style of Stewart/Thomas? Of course not
22:10
Real analysis, yes. But I don't think that you should have to take calculus before real analysis.
In fact, I will openly admit that the calculus sequence was mostly pointless for me and wish I could've skipped to analysis, like every European country seems to do
The calculus prereq is, I think, as much a hurdle for mathematical maturity as it is for content knowledge.
Absolutely no disagreement there
Yay!
In any event, I think that I am going to pack my shit, and teach my evening class from home, tonight. I'm tired. :/
Rest well. I am going to try to walk in this 40F (5C) weather
22:12
@XanderHenderson If you say that, math departments will go away lickety-split.
@TedShifrin Oh, I know, which is why I never say it too loudly.
@TedShifrin I mean, there's truth to this. The revenue-generators are statistics and calculus, from what I've seen
Speaking of which
I was catching up with my former department chair from 2 jobs ago
It sounds like the STEM dean is being pushed out because of his perceived lack of willingness to push faculty to increase their 1-year-college-level-math placement rates
Do you mean success rates — i.e., grade inflation?
@TedShifrin Yes, C-or-higher rates
I should have said 1-year-college-level-math completion
Right. And with covid learning took a nose dive.
22:17
The department chair described to me that his perception is that the VP doesn't think faculty have any interest in trying to improve developmental-math teaching
Is this community college?
That’s the preponderance of the math teaching!
Apparently they are being told by higher-ups higher than that VP that they will be moving into co-requisite models
Sure, just teach calc and fail the kids because they know no algebra.
Our education is a total mess.
22:20
If you're not familiar with co-requisite models, as a hypothetical example, suppose you're trying to have a student take college algebra one semester from now (because that's a college-level math class)
If they are, say, two levels behind college algebra, in this current semester, you would have them enroll in two courses simultaneously so as to try to prepare them in an accelerated pace for college algebra
I believe I've seen one example of this so far in the elementary statistics sequence, for example, where they pair one section of it with an elementary algebra course, totaling 8 credits in one semester
Unmitigated disaster. Typical admin approach …
I was extremely, extremely skeptical of the stats one I mentioned above when it was being proposed
Relatively little algebra in intro stats!
Not to mention, convincing a student to take 8 credits of math in one semester is a very hard sell
Indeed. It’ll wipe out most weak students.
22:26
In case you want to read more: utdanacenter.org/our-work/higher-education/…
I enjoy retirement :)
Yeah
It's a mess these days
I haven't gotten into the general equity stuff that I've been hearing about, but I won't go there
I left teaching at the right time
 
1 hour later…
23:55
@Ted Someone nailed it, it looks like.
The trick was, pick a point $R$ that's not on the plane we care about, and take some plane through $P, Q, R$ (one exists, but is not necessarily uniquely given because $R$ could be on $PQ$!); that plane has to be different from the one we care about, so intersects it in a unique line, etc etc etc.

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