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00:24
@Rithaniel sounds annoying :P
@TedShifrin fiber bundle? that's a closed inclusion!
Yeah, I think I've got a proof
@oscarmetalbreak the same idea shows that a finite-dimensional algebra over a field is an integral domain if and only if it is a field
 
1 hour later…
01:26
@Thorgott Can I prove this? That a finite commutative ring is a finite dimension vector space over a field? I tried on my own just now, seeing no clues :(.
it's not true that a finite commutative ring is a finite-dimensional vector space over a field. it's true for finite integral domains, however. but I didn't really intend to get at that.
in case you wanna know, though, the reason is that any integral domain is an algebra over its prime field and a finite integral domain is necessarily finite-dimensional over that prime field for cardinality reasons
Does anybody by any chance know what kind of graph this (its name) is and how you read it?
My guess is that the x-axis is just time, but don't have much info about the other axis. It is supposed to represent different samples done throughout time
@LandonZeKepitelOfGreytBritn Without context, it is impossible to know.
No wait, I have a better guess...
Presumably, this is the "graph" of a function $\mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}$, where the horizontal and vertical axes correspond to some independent variables, and the color assigned to each pixel corresponds to a dependent variable.
01:40
the x-axis represents the value of the sample and the y-axis the number of samples with that specific value. Kinf of like a histogram. Just don't know yet what the colors mean
But without knowing where that graph comes from, it could be anything.
@Thorgott Thanks. I guess I was trying to say finite integral domain is a finite vector space over a field. But I didn't know it was a prime field. Where I should look up for the proof of this fact?
@XanderHenderson hmm, ok thanks... Could make sense. Will keep that in mind. Did not think about it this way
ow ow ow, I am starting to understand it!
little by little
Yhea I think it is a 2d representation of a memory area
and the color represents the measurements' value
Thanks @XanderHenderson !
Now just gotta find the name of such a graph, that way I can try to construct a similar one myself
02:13
for any ring $R$, there is a unique homomorphism $\mathbb{Z}\rightarrow R$ (uniquely determined by the fact it has to map $1\mapsto 1_R$). if $R$ is finite, this cannot be injective, so it has a kernel of the form $n\mathbb{Z}$ for some $n>0$ and factors through an injection $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}\hookrightarrow R$.
if $R$ is an integral domain, $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ has to be too, which can only happen if $n=p$ is prime, in which case you have obtained an injective ring homomorphism $\mathbb{F}_p\hookrightarrow R$, i.e. $R$ is an $\mathbb{F}_p$-algebra.
02:44
Ok, this things looks good to me. But I am not familiar with algebra though. How does it become a $\mathbb{F}_p$-algebra at the end? I got that this is the prime field.
no I mean I got the $\mathbb{F}_p$ is a prime field
> Google DeepMind has used a large language model to crack a famous unsolved problem in pure mathematics. In a paper published in Nature today, the researchers say it is the first time a large language model has been used to discover a solution to a long-standing scientific puzzle—producing verifiable and valuable new information that did not previously exist. technologyreview.com/2023/12/14/1085318/…
Should I enforce myself to consider this $\mathbb{F}_p$-algebra as a vector space with a specific dimensions in mind? Or because it satisfies the axiom of the vector space and it is also finite so I can assign it as a finite dimensional vector space.
a) there are many equivalent ways of defining a $k$-algebra for a field $k$. my preferred definition is simply that a $k$-algebra is a ring $R$ together with a ring homomorphism $k\rightarrow R$. the multiplication on $R$ restricted along this homomorphism in the first component then makes $R$ into a $k$-vector space in a way so that its multiplication becomes $k$-bilinear.
b) the latter. it is finite as a set, so certainly finite-dimensional as a vector space. the dimension will be $\log_p|R|$, but of course that's only true post hoc.
03:28
I see. I was also interested in how you get $\log_p|R|$ for the dimension of algebra, I have checked that it is trivially true for $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$. How is it true in general?
NVM I get it now
 
1 hour later…
04:56
Given integer $a$ and any $a^2+1$ objects $x_0,\dots, x_{a^2}$ then there are always $a+1$ distinct indices $v$ for $0\leq v\leq a^2$, such that the corresponding $a+1$ objects $x_v$ are either all equal to each other or mutually distinct. I can't quite understand this assessment. I only got it partially if it is to put $a^2+1$ balls to $a$ container such that at least $a+1$ are in the same container. But how is the assessment at the beginning true without anymore input to the condition?
 
3 hours later…
08:02
oscar some of the confusion may be in the question's poor choice of wording. e.g. if you "have" 10 "objects" but 4 of them "are all equal to each other," there is a very real sense in which you don't have 10 "objects" at all; you have some smaller number of objects. it might be clearer to think of "labeling" objects with 10 indices. it is probably clearer to visualize one thing potentially receiving multiple labels, than one thing potentially being multiple things that are "equal to each other."
the argument sketch you provided is addressing one of two alternatives. if you're labeling objects with a^2 + 1 labels. one thing that can happen is that a+1 different objects receive labels. in that case there is nothing to show. another thing that can happen is that no more than a objects receive labels, where the desired conclusion is that in this case, at least one object receives a+1 labels. that's where pigeonholing comes in.
edsger dijkstra wrote an informative essay against the "pigeons and holes" conception of the pigeonhole principle that you or others might enjoy. cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/EWD980.html
 
1 hour later…
09:18
0
Q: $\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\frac{\partial }{\partial s}=\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\frac{\partial s}{\partial t}+\kappa^2\frac{\partial}{\partial s}$

Unknown xProve that $$\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\frac{\partial }{\partial s}=\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\frac{\partial s}{\partial t}+\kappa^2\frac{\partial}{\partial s}.$$ My attempt:- $$\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\frac{\partial }{\partial s}=\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\Big(\frac{1}{v}\frac{\partial }{\...

@leslietownes Thank you. I haven't read your link yet but it does feel more reasonable after you have explained it with labeling. So to make the assessment clearer. The objects $\{x_0,\dots, x_{a^2}\}$ does not exclude the possibility of repeated objects. So If there are $\leq a$ objects are not repeated then there are always $a+1$ of the labeled objects are equal. On the other hand if there are $>a$ non-repeated objects then there are always $a+1$ labeled objects are distinct.
Mad
Mad
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/4602863/an-operator-is-compact-iff-it-maps-any-weakly-convergent-sequence-to-a-convergen

why in this proof, he uses the theorem that states that every sub sequencee has a subsequence that converges. wouldnt it not be sufficient to use the fact that if every subsequence converge to x then the sequence converge to x, IE why do we need the x_n_k_m instead of x_n_k
10:17
@Thorgott why not
Can't you just treat a commutative group of size n as a vector space over Z/nZ?
11:00
@Jakobian but that's not necessarily a field
 
2 hours later…
12:53
@XanderHenderson Any metric works?
13:26
@Thorgott ah.. I've got corrupted by modules...
 
1 hour later…
14:29
@JohnZimmerman Depending on what you mean by "works", any metric space with finite Assouad dimension.
 
3 hours later…
17:34
that definitely ain't a part of my definition of 'works'
Four of my high voted questions just got downvoted in quick succession; two yesterday. Ha!
I think I annoyed someone.
Sorry, no, not yesterday - the day before.
@Ted do you know how much redundancy exactly there is among the Plücker relations for the $(k,n)$ Grassmannian? to me, the Plücker relations are given in the Plücker coordinates $p_{i_1\dotsc i_k}$ (the coordinates are those with indices $1\le i_1<\dotsc i_k\le n$, but I will also write this for general indices and interpret the values as "alternating" on those indices) as $\sum_{l=1}^{k+1}(-1)^{l-1}p_{j_1\dotsc j_{k-1}i_l}p_{i_1\dotsc\hat{i_l}\dotsc i_{k+1}}=0$ for any $1\le j_1<\dotsc<j_{k-1}\le n$ and $1\le i_1<\dotsc<i_{k+1}\le n$.
18:08
I wonder, I think I already know the answer to that, but I want some reality check/second opinion beside my own: is it any useful to make a self-published paper as a "hobbyist" compared to a real academic from a real background of whatever related field they want to officially publish in?
nordine: what do you mean by 'useful'? the question is a little confusing because the main value of academic publishing is to people who are academics.
I mean, I don't think this is entirely true. I have seen a few (less than 5) hobbyist who managed to self-publish in the field of mathematics or related and got some acknowledgment at least
in the likely event that a really interested hobbyist make a potential discovery and then look up related papers to make sure it wasn't already discovered, does that mean they shouldn't make it as a paper? Should they just spoil the discovery so someone more "credible" make a paper on it?
well, speaking only for myself, if i came up with something mathematically interesting now, i have no idea how i would benefit from trying to get it published in an academic journal. it would just be a layer of hassle for (maybe) a line on a CV that absolutely nobody would care about
hmm, the CV part is fair, I actually do think it wouldn't help me on that specific front either
the big challenge with almost all math (including but not limited to math submitted to academic journals, and published in academic journals) is convincing people that it is interesting. as a non academic, you probably face slightly more obstacles trying to get a journal interested in publishing some random result than an academic might. but even publishing something is no guarantee that anybody will discover it, let alone read it
18:17
yeah, I guess unless it was approved by some real academic people or was a huge discovery, no one would really care if it's a hobbyist :/
Speaking as a hobbyist, I recall a story about Vladimir Voevodsky who got attention from Harvard after drop out
i don't see the shame in self publishing in math that people sometimes find with self publishing in other fields (e.g. works of fiction). if it is interesting enough, people will find it either way. a boring result doesn't become interesting by appearing in a journal (although it might not appear in a journal)
if you are trying to do stuff as a way of getting into academia then yes it is worth trying to do things that academics care about, such as publishing in academic journals. it wasn't clear from the question if that was the goal
my goal isn't really to become a real academics. Just wanted to try and publish it. First place would be arxiv but I know it's not a real publishing place ( a lot of draft, preprint, etc)
the arxiv is a great way of making results accessible
Don't you need a reference for the first time of publish on arxiv? I have heard this somewhere
18:25
@Thorgott You can do a dimension count. You know the dimension of $\Bbb P(\Lambda^k\Bbb C^n)$ and the dimension of $G(k,n)$. And you can count how many equations you get from $\omega\wedge\omega=0$.
oscar: certainly it used to work like that, although it wasn't much of a hurdle
I actually never posted anything on arxiv personally, so I am clueless.
Don't some people state inverse function theorem with the assumption of being homeomorphism already there?
So I guess there are two types of such theorems
18:41
Hi, can someone help me understandig how we can conclude $\Delta_{\Gamma}\,\,\text{arg} P(x)\to 2\pi$ here
@TedShifrin I'm not really looking for a minimal generating set (and if I were, I wouldn't know if the Plücker relations necessarily contained a minimal generating set in general), I just want to eliminate the redundancies that should be "obvious" to see
the $k=2$ case I'm happy with, and even in that case I don't actually know if these ${n\choose 4}$ Plücker relations are minimal
No statement of the Inverse Function Theorem that I know mentions homeomorphism a priori. That sort of defeats the point. Invariance of domain, for example, is an immediate consequence of the Inverse Function Theorem, as it tells you that your continuous map is open.
@Thor I have no idea.
@Sine Typically with such things, you should sketch a picture of what quadrants the mapping is in and you'll see it.
@TedShifrin If $f:U\to V$ is a homeomorphism between open sets $U, V$ and $f'(x_0)$ exists and is invertible, then $g = f^{-1}$ is differentiable at $y_0 = f(x_0)$ and $g'(y_0) = (f(x_0))^{-1}$
Isn't this called inverse function theorem?
I've never seen that. In my view, a good deal of the whole point of the IFT is to deduce a local homeomorphism from knowing the derivative is invertible.
@TedShifrin I drew a picture of the curve but I can't understand how to conclude $\to 2\pi$
18:55
@Sine Which curve did you sketch? The image of $\Gamma$ under $P$?
I've seen it in Bartle for $1$-dimensional case, and now in Dieudonne too
I don't care about the $1$-dimensional case. We don't need fancy stuff for the $1$-dimensional case. I care about applications to manifolds and geometry.
That's not the point.
Oh, I misread your comment
The $1$-dimensional case was in Bartle, Dieudonne does it for Frechet derivatives
I was just mentioning that I saw it there
19:00
@TedShifrin understandable, the Plücker relations still seem quite hard to handle if $k>2$
@Thorgott Funny, I have a question about Plücker coordinates: suppose that we look at the field extension $K/\mathbb C = \mathbb C(p_{ij}) /\mathbb C$. It is easy to see that $\mathbb C(p_{ij},x_1,x_2,y_1,y_2) = \mathbb C(x_1,\ldots,x_m,y_1,\ldots,y_m)$ which means that the transcendence degree of $K(x_1,x_2,y_1,y_2)/\mathbb C(x_1,x_2,y_1,y_2)$ is $2m-4$.
@Thor Among various places, you can find in Griffiths and Harris a discussion of the Plücker embedding and how to characterize it. See p. 210-211. They give $\iota_\Xi\Lambda\wedge\Lambda = 0$ for all $\Xi\in\bigwedge^{k-1}V^*$ as characterizing decomposable $\Lambda\in\bigwedge^k V$.
Heya @Pedro !
How can I deduce from this that $K/\mathbb C$ has trascendence degree $2m-4$ from this?
Hi! Do you remember your field theory? Huh?
Not I.
Plus I can't read your failed MathJax.
Ok, now it works.
...
19:17
Maybe you can show $\text{trdeg}(K/\mathbb{C})\leq 2m-4$, since the above degree is $\leq 4$?
@Jakobian Yes, this I can show.
Ah, perfect.
Then it should be done since $\text{trdeg}(K(x_1, x_2, y_1, y_2)/\mathbb{C}) = \text{trdeg}(K(x_1, x_2, y_1, y_2)/K)+\text{trdeg}(K/\mathbb{C}) = 2m$
Aha. Thanks!
No problem.
@TedShifrin that's where I learned this stuff from yesterday. the relations I gave earlier are just by expanding these ${n\choose k-1}=\dim\bigwedge^{k-1}V^{\ast}$ equations in the ${n\choose k+1}$ coordinates of $\bigwedge^{k+1}V$ (Griffiths_harris did not do this explicity and now that I've done it, I guess I can see why)
19:21
Ah, OK. Well, I definitely cannot help. I've never worked this stuff out explicitly because I never needed it.
I don't really need to know them either (knowing that $\mathrm{Gr}(2,4)$ is a quadric in $\mathbb{P}^5$ seems like the only time you ever actually want to write down the defining the ideal concisely), it just bugged me a bit
That I've used plenty of times. Along with the real analogue that oriented $G(2,4)$ is $S^2\times S^2\subset S^5$.
19:33
oh, I never realized that
it's also not entirely obvious to me
we have a fiber bundle $S^1\rightarrow V_+(2,4)\rightarrow G_+(2,4)$ (the middle thing being the oriented Stiefel manifold) and I guess this should locally look like the product of a Hopf fibration with an open subset of $S^2$?
@Pedro is here after many years I think
Yes, Pedro is a rare bird.
MSE is the most addictive substance on the net
@Thor: The Plücker relation is something like $x_0x_5-x_1x_4+x_2x_3=0$. You can make a linear change of coordinates in $\Bbb R^6$ so that the intersection with $S^5$ decouples to a product of $S^2$'s
Can't leave it! :D
19:43
I often assigned this, along with the $S^3$ version, to my differential topology students at the beginning of the course.
You can also think of it as decomposing $\wedge^2\Bbb R^4$ into self-dual and anti-self-dual components.
That's how I first was introduced to this in graduate school.
@TedShifrin in layman's terms what are you computing there?
Wedge products?
Computing where?
ah wait, $V(2,4)$ is nothing but the unit tangent bundle of $S^3$, but that's a Lie group, so this actually globally trivializes and we have $V(2,4)=S^3\times S^2$ and then the bundle defining the Grassmannian is a bundle $S^1\rightarrow S^3\times S^2\rightarrow G_+(2,4)$, which should correspond to $S^3\times S^2\rightarrow S^2\times S^2$, the Hopf fibration times the identity, let me calculate that...
@TedShifrin that sounds neat as well
20:02
@leslietownes Lot's of people have "blogs". :D
(Including some very good mathematicians.)
ah yes, the point is simply that the quaternionic structure on $\mathbb{R}^4$ means we can find a canonical basis of the orthogonal complement $v^{\perp}$ for any non-zero vector $v$ by taking the rotation that maps $e_1\mapsto v$ and applying it to $e_2,e_3,e_4$. then, $V(2,4)=S^3\times S^2$ maps $(v,w)$ to $(v,v^{-1}w)$, where $v^{-1}w$ now lies in the unit sphere of $0\oplus\mathbb{R}^3\subseteq\mathbb{R}^4$.
now $(v,w)$ and $(v',w')$ span the same *oriented* plane iff they differ by a rotation in that plane, i.e. there is a $z\in\mathrm{Span}(v,w)$ s.t. $(v',w')=(zv,zw)$, but then these
My way sure is unsophisticated :P
20:19
I just wanted a "picture"
Yes, I applaud you for that. I have never worked enough with quaternions to leap immediately to them for the geometry. That's a failing on my part.
I didn't leap to them immediately either. I worked backwards from the realization that $S^3$ is parallelizable :P
That much I knew.
20:34
F yea grassmannians!
Idk what they are, but I think I am one rn
for the function $f(z)=\frac1{z^2-z}$, I have two Laurent expansions centered in $0$: one for $0<|z|<1$ and one for $|z|>1$ right?
😁
Who could come up with such elegant yet complex math, other than a group of grassmannians
Where can I find XYZ, bro? I'm jonesing. Oh that would be Dr. Grassmannian over there scribbling symbols
@TedShifrin Read Dieudonne for "succinct" (??) Didn't that guy publish a 6 volume Treatise, the first part of the second volume or so of which I've tried to parse?
sine: yes. you can get the first one by dividing the geometric series formula for 1/(1 - z) in powers of z [convergent for |z| < 1] by -z. you can get the second by thinking of z^2 - z as z^2(1 - 1/z) and again using the geometric series expansion, now of 1/(1 - 1/z) in powers of 1/z (convergent for |1/z| < 1)
Just saying, must be 99% succinct!
The material was so dense with succinctness that it could not be contained in 5 volumes
succinctness is more analogous to density than it is to volume
20:41
Actually that was a book I accidentally stole from Humboldt SU
library
I had to pay them like $100 or something
joke's on them, it's irreplaceable
joke was then on me, I lost it
leslie: thanks, I know how to compute the expansion. Geometric series is so poweful
a first course in complex analysis can really be thought of as an extended rumination on the geometric series formula
or of the logarithm
I love it when people think "imaginary" means the numbers aren't as real. They're perhaps even more real because of their vast application in this physical universe.
Well, people do typically see fractals in complex planes when they trip, so maybe I'm wrong..
21:39
@DanielDonnelly "I don't even know who you are!"
22:09
@DanielDonnelly No!
Bad @DanielDonnelly! No biscuit!
@DanielDonnelly I don't love that. It is actually a pretty big impediment to learning, I think. Students are convinced that "real" numbers are totally okay and easy to understand, and then panic about "imaginary" numbers.
Personally, I think that the real numbers are damn near impossible to understand.
I don't have much of a problem grokking the naturals, and it isn't too hard to construct the integers and rationals from the naturals (there are a couple of things to check along the way, but it isn't too hard).
The whole notion of algebraic numbers makes sense to me, though the details of field extensions and minimal polynomials is a little abstract for me. But, again, the basic idea of "throw in enough extra stuff to the rationals so that you can solve polynomial equations" is basically fine.
@XanderHenderson Because you use Cauchy's definition of real numbers
@Jakobian No, I am comfortable with either Cauchy completions or Dedekind cuts.
Alright, define what understand means in this context then
What is is that Feynmann said about quantum mechanics and those people who claim to understand it?
He said nobody understands it.
You just get used to it.
22:17
@user85795 Exactly.
Do you mean the intricacies about real numbers and their decimal expansions or something?
@Jakobian I mean exactly what I said. "Personally, I think that the real numbers are damn near impossible to understand."
Well yeah, that makes no sense to me, clearly you can understand them. So unless you're talking about something specific about real numbers, I disagree
@Jakobian I don't actually think that I do understand the real numbers.
Define: understand, please.
22:20
I think that I am capable of using the properties of real numbers to solve problems. But I don't really think that I, or anyone else, truly groks them.
@user85795 Again, this
See the meaning
Define: meaning
Someone is asking you to specify what you mean, and you cite the dictionary which is by nature not very specific
What is the meaning of meaning?
22:23
I have specifically used the word "grok", which comes from a Heinlein novel. It means to deeply and intuitively understand something, at a deep level.
I provided you with a definition. You are complaining that the definition is not specific enough. I am not sure what about it you are failing to understand, and you are not asking very useful or specific questions which would help me to clarify this for you.
I also explained, above, why I think that other sets of numbers are easier to understand, by way of getting towards why the reals are, I think, quite difficult to understand.
So, again, I am not sure where your confusion is.
@XanderHenderson I don't understand what is that supposed to mean
At a deep level? What does that mean
@Jakobian I have explained the term as best I can.
I have given examples.
This word "grok", I don't think it means anything
I'm not sure what else you want from mme.
Grok is a neologism coined by American writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. While the Oxford English Dictionary summarizes the meaning of grok as "to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with" and "to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment", Heinlein's concept is far more nuanced, with critic Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. observing that "the book's major theme can be seen as an extended definition of the term." The concept of grok garnered significant critical scrutiny in the years after...
> When you claim to "grok" some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part of your identity. For example, to say that you "know" Lisp is simply to assert that you can code in it if necessary...
> ... – but to say you "grok" Lisp is to claim that you have deeply entered the world-view and spirit of the language, with the implication that it has transformed your view of programming. Contrast zen, which is a similar supernatural understanding experienced as a single brief flash.
22:28
Isn't it a word to just hide what you truly mean?
@Jakobian I really don't like being accused of being disingenuous.
Like, yeah I "grok" Lisp, and it means I know it and then some, but I don't want to talk about what "then some" even is
so I'm actually not getting into any details whatsoever
> has become part of you, part of your identity
Look, I was trying to explain exactly what I meant, and you interjected yourself to ask about the meaning of a couple of plain English words which I am using in the plain English sense of those words. You then accused me of being disingenuous. Why do you feel the need to be so confrontational?
> has transformed your view
Can an understanding of the real numbers do that?
As you said they are introduced very early.
22:33
No one studies real numbers alone because, on its own, its too shallow of a concept. Its the derivatives of it that are studied
@Jakobian That appears to be totally irrelevant to what I was talking about.
I was addressing this comment:
2 hours ago, by Daniel Donnelly
I love it when people think "imaginary" means the numbers aren't as real. They're perhaps even more real because of their vast application in this physical universe.
To continue with the thoughts I was trying to express, I don't think that it is that troublesome to accept the algebraic numbers, but they are a fairly complicated beast. I'm also reasonably happy throwing in a few more field extensions (e.g. toss in $\mathrm{e}$ and $\pi$ so that we can talk about exponential and trigonometric functions).
And the Gaussian rationals are, again, easy enough to understand as an extension of the rationals.
But the reals are uncountable. There are real numbers which cannot, even in principle, be represented.
Going from the rationals to the reals is a huge step. It is complicated, but we teach students about the "real" numbers at an early age, and convince them that they are easy to understand. And then they hit "imaginary" numbers, and they panic. Even though the step from the reals to the complex (or from the rationals to the Gaussian rationals) is a lot easier to make.
The nomenclature is confusing to students.
Just because its not as easy to write what real numbers are with our formalism doesn't make them particularly harder to understand
@Jakobian I think that you have missed my point. It is not just about how easy or hard it is to write out what they are.
The uncountability is a huge part of it, too.
And I think that history backs me up on this, eg you don't really need the Axiom of Choice to deal with the rationals.
You don't get Banach-Tarski in a countable space.
There's no Vitali set in a countable universe.
The transcendence degree of $\mathbb{R}$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ is uncountable.
@XanderHenderson And I think students are right. There is no visual cue of why complex numbers would be important. The only ones are algebraic
People don't understand things from the viewpoint of "because it works"
I think whether the real numbers are hard or not largely depends on what questions you ask about them
22:46
@Jakobian I think that you suggest that because we don't teach a curriculum which geometrically motivates the complex numbers from early on (instead, we teach a curriculum which attempts to geometrically motivate the reals from early on).
Going from rationals to real numbers is a huge step if we go into the formalism of it. For our intuition its not a big step
as a topologist, I find them less scary than the rational numbers
@Thorgott Sure, as an analyst, I don't generally work with incomplete spaces.
@Jakobian You minimize the role if
Because complete spaces have much better properties.
22:47
@Jakobian You minimize the role of physics.
@XanderHenderson The same visual cues that are valid for complex numbers, are valid for real numbers too. So, whats the motivation behind complex numbers? Its not actually geometric. Its only algebraic
@Jakobian I could say the same about the Gaussian rationals. I can either think of the Gaussian rationals as $\mathbb{R}^2$ with a multiplicative structure (this structure can actually be fairly nicely motivated by looking at rotations in the plane, together with scalar multiplication), or as an extension of the rationals by the imaginary unit.
Did I join in a bad moment :D
@Jakobian I'm talking about souping up the rationals. You can either construct the reals, or you can construct the Gaussian rationals. The latter is, I argue, much easier to do.
@SineoftheTime not really, you can join in and state an opinion if you want
22:54
I think that you (like all of us) were taught about the reals from an early age, and you carry this bias in your thinking to this day. My impression is that you are kind of suffering from the "curse of knowledge" here.
I don't have the knowledge :(
@XanderHenderson You could try to go from Gaussian integers to complex numbers, but you don't have motivation such as the least upper bound property for real numbers then.
I think going from Gaussian rationals to complex numbers would really be less intuitive than going from rationals to real numbers
@Jakobian Again, I'm not talking about building up the complex numbers as a complete field.
I am talking about the transition from the rationals to something "more complicated".
It was so saddening when I saw some people thinking irrational numbers don't exist and $\pi$ would "eventually terminate".
@Jakobian I would argue most things are understood like that
from my categorically tinted perspective, it is oftentimes more important to understand what properties a certain object has than understanding it in an "intrinsic" sense
23:03
@Thorgott Thats not understanding, but accepting things
even with $\mathbb{R}$, you typically understand it in terms of its properties (complete, ordered field) than in terms of an explicit construction
2
I disagree. I don't understand $\mathbb{R}$ like that, and I don't think anyone actually does
@Thorgott You could omit the reference to categories and still make that good point.
Of course people do, Jakobian. You are not representative of the average mathematician.
well, this perspective is why categorical thinking can be useful in the first place, as far as I'm concerned
@TedShifrin Again, curse of knowledge.
23:06
@TedShifrin You're missing the point
@Thorgott Spoken like a category theorist. :P
You love saying that, and I think it”s you who miss the point.
@XanderHenderson you can't entirely stop my propaganda!
I think that when people say they understand $\mathbb{R}$, they don't actually "understand it", more like just list the properties it has and name it as understanding
@Jakobian Gosh... that's almost exactly what I said in the first place.
23:08
they might have understanding of it but its not because of those properties they have but because of the intuition they have about the object
properties and intuition are the same thing
perhaps up to homotopy
Never couldst understand $\mathbb{R}$ when it has uncountably many points.
Parroting proofs is not understanding.
Chaitin's constant, or the limit of Specker sequence, anyone?
For me understanding $\mathbb{R}$ boils down to having good geometric intuition about it. That's it
23:11
@XanderHenderson what do you mean with "curse of knowledge"?
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, who is communicating with others, assumes that others have information that is only available to themselves, assuming they all share a background and understanding. This bias is also called by some authors the curse of expertise.For example, in a classroom setting, teachers may have difficulty if they cannot put themselves in the position of the student. A knowledgeable professor might no longer remember the difficulties that a young student encounters when learning a new subject for the first time. This curse of knowledge...
People who know things have a hard time not knowing those things, or putting themselves into the position of a person who does not know those things.
Interesting, I've always thought about it but didn't know it has a name
@Jakobian You have a geometric intuition for the reals because the entire mathematics curriculum you were taught was working to build up that intuition. I suspect that this is largely a consequence of the space race, a time during which extreme emphasis was placed on calculus and differential equations, because we had to beat the commies to the moon.
@XanderHenderson Then why does my position stand in an agreement with that of a student
Perhaps its you that has a curse of knowledge
@Jakobian I don't understand the claim that you are making.
23:16
@XanderHenderson Space race that I wasn't involved in because I'm not even American?
Or that old
@Jakobian I think you've missed the point.
I think I did
The curriculum that is fairly standard across the globe is very much a consequence of decisions which were made during the space race.
Both the US and the Soviet Union developed curricula which tracked students into calculus, and (since the US and USSR were behemoths on the world stage) most of the rest of the developed world followed.
The modern curriculum evolved out of Cold War era insecurities and priorities.
eh, I get where you're coming from and it's true politics impact the curriculum, but also the vast majority of mathematics involves $\mathbb{R}$ in some way or another and this has been the case for long before the space race too
In any event, I can imagine a mathematical curriculum which focuses more on geometry early on, looks at rigid motions of the plane along with the introduction of Cartesian coordinates, and builds up to more general linear transformations.
From there, it is very reasonable and intuitive to define complex multiplication in terms of rotation and scaling.
23:20
I have a basic question...more a confirmation, if you will. Let $c>0$. Is it true that $$\limsup\limits_{n\to\infty}cx_n=\infty\iff\limsup\limits_{n\to\infty}x_n =\infty?$$ I know the limsup of a sequence only diverges to positive infinity if the sequence $\sup_{n\geq k}x_n$ equals positive infinity for every $k$. I think this observation is enough to "prove" the above equivalence, right?
think about what $\sup_{n\ge k}(cx_n)$ is
also that sentence doesn't quite sound right
@XanderHenderson I don't know, this feels a bit backwards
@Jakobian Only because you were taught in a different way. I am asking you to pretend that you live in an alternate world where the curriculum is different.
You think that the way you have learned things is intuitive because that is the way you learned them. Try to step outside of that mindset.
hmm, $\sup_{n\ge k}(cx_n)$ is simply the sequence $y_k=\sup\{cx_k, cx_{k+1},\ldots\}$. The observation I made about that $\sup_{n\geq k}x_n$ equals infinity for every $k$ is taken from here (page 15, definition 3.34).
@psie No. $\sup_{n\ge k} c_n$ is a number, not a sequence.
23:32
He’s talking about the sequence as $k$ varies.
Oh.
That is confusing...
I'm using the notation as here.
Well, limsup is the limit of his sequence.
$(\sup_{n\ge k} cx_n)_{k\in\mathbb{N}}$. :D
No, $k\in \Bbb N$.
23:34
Erf...
That's what I meant.
@XanderHenderson After thinking about this, I think this would be a good way to introduce complex numbers in general, perhaps replacing the standard "$i^2 = -1$" in how its taught in university. And I see how complex numbers are way more intuitive and geometric than I was giving them credit, I was only looking at the "algebraic" description, and not how they arise from transformations of the plane.
I am taking a Harmonic analysis next year. How does everyone think about this subject? It is not taught in my college so I have to take it in another one.
Make sure you know the prerequisites.
@XanderHenderson I don't have the time to read this right now, but I appreciate the reference
Yes, I will. I was actually wondering how people think the importance of this category of analysis.
It looks quite popular from my search but I am surprised it was not taught in my college.
23:46
It’s typically a second-year graduate course
@oscarmetalbreak My impression is that anything past beyond real analysis is typically considered somewhat specialized, and not taught as part of the standard undergraduate curriculum.
And harmonic analysis typically requires at least some background in measure theory and the theory of $L^p$ spaces.
It’s analysis on Lie groups, so typically requires experience with complex analysis, PDE, and Lie groups.
So not typically taught before grad school.
Is Functional Analysis a prerequisite for Harmonic Analysis?
Not really.
23:50
@DannyuNDos Not necessarily. As Ted says, complex analysis and PDE are more pertinent.
Of course, PDE has various aspects of advanced real analysis involved.
I have looked at the outline of the course. It starts off much more gentle. We will actually first starting learning the Fourier series on the circle
Though the version of harmonic analysis I took in grad school did build on functional analysis more than most other areas.
And then fourier transform on $\mathbb{R}^n$
Have you had the Lebesgue integral, $L^2$, etc.?
23:52
Yes
It is required as a concurrent course
OK. Concurrent I doubt suffices. Check with the prof teaching it. Email that person with a list of what advanced courses you’ve taken.
We see lots of people in here who sign up for courses they should not be in … then are lost and complain to us.
I have taken the Lebegue integral and some measure theory. Our college separates the course of analysis into four parts. The last two are all about measure theory and I have taken the first of it.
Maybe the course won’t do stuff on Lie groups, but the prof knows. We don’t.
There can be representation theory and differential geometry involved. We can’t know.
huh, I doubt there are any of them though I will check with the prof since I see none of them from the outline.

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