Questions tagged [mathematics]

On standards or conventions specific to mathematics as an academic discipline, and programs that lead to a degree in this field. For regular mathematics questions, visit our sister sites Math Stack Exchange and MathOverflow.

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Not motivated for the second part of thesis

I am asking for a hint about the following issue. I have this particular (let's call it weakness) that I have to be motivated to do research. I have done a large portion of my thesis in PhD, but not ...
mathvc_'s user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
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In France, is it possible to research at a postdoctoral level as a freelancer, not being on a regular contract?

Perhaps this question is slightly out of scope for this page, but I still ask here. Can you work for a university/academic institution as a researcher or as a teacher, with the status of a freelancer? ...
Science Man's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Potential downsides to requesting an extension

I am curently working on my final year project which has a deadline in 3 weeks. This deadline has already been extended by 1 month from the previous deadline (which would have just passed) for ...
Busy Student's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
3k views

How to read textbooks like you listen a lecture?

When I hear a lecture, If the instructor is the kind I like, then I can easily understand what part of what I'm learning is important and the true crux of the ideas. Like I can pick it up from how the ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
181 views

Could giving an alternative approach to proving an established result be worthy of publication? [duplicate]

(I don't believe this is a duplicate to Can I publish a paper with new proof but the same result?, because not only am I using a different proof, but also an axiomatisation that could perhaps be seen ...
MathsGuy's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why are there so few visiting (research) associate professor position postings?

The field is mathematics (including applied and computational mathematics). While there are plenty of visiting assistant professor position on sites like MathJobs.org, I rarely see visiting associate ...
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5 votes
3 answers
1k views

How correlated are grades in math courses with potential for research?

This is something that has been troubling me for a long while now. I am an undergraduate mathematics major (a sophomore), and I wish to apply to Ph.D. programs in pure mathematics in the future. I'm ...
stoic-santiago's user avatar
23 votes
4 answers
7k views

What are the consequences of mistakenly publishing existing research?

**I'm asking this in the context of mathematical research if that changes the answer. I've heard stories on Quora and from my professors about instances where researchers were banned from journals and,...
Espresso's user avatar
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17 votes
4 answers
4k views

Does "scut work" contribution to a paper as a math undergrad carry weight in grad school application?

I got an opportunity to collaborate writing a mathematics paper with some professor at my university, but I'm suspecting my role won't be much more significant except doing menial work in the form of ...
noobie's user avatar
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31 votes
5 answers
8k views

What did Israel Gelfand mean by “You have to be fast only to catch fleas,” in the context of mathematical research?

I'm confused about a statement by Israel Gelfand given in the book TOPSY TURVY: A Book for All in One Page No:155 Why did Israel Gelfand say “You have to be fast only to catch fleas,” and how does ...
jasmine's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
608 views

Applying to a job after just accepting an offer

I just accepted an offer after the usual cycle of tenure-track applications starting in December. However, there's another job posting I'm very interested in that was just posted now for some reason(*)...
ecitaboow's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
353 views

What is the best PhD choice for gauge-gravity duality research? [closed]

I am a mathematician but want to do a PhD in mathematical physics focusing on gauge-gravity duality and more generally quantum gravity, what is the most appropriate PhD choice to do research in this ...
user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

How do you become a referee for a math journal? [duplicate]

I am in the early stages of my career (post PhD) and I would like to referee papers to (1) get the experience and (2) be exposed to unpublished writing to learn to improve upon my own writing. How do ...
Indy500's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
3k views

Are undergrads applying to top math Phd programs expected to have taken core graduate clases?

Is doing well in the standard core undergraduate math courses (complex analysis up to the Riemann mapping theorem, abstract algebra including Galois theory, point-set topology, and algebraic topology, ...
Mehta's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is there a max number of authors for a paper of math?

I never saw a paper published in a journal of (pure) math with more than six authors. Is it a rule? (see this one)
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
128 views

General Guidline in making a index for a textbook

I am currently writing a textbook in some mathematical area and now I am at the point of creating an index of words. Are there some general rules in academia on this, like there are for citing ...
B.Hueber's user avatar
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1 answer
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Adding pictures to mathematical academic papers [duplicate]

I was wondering if there is this "universal" program that generates a picture of a graph (you make), then exports it to SVG form. The SVG is because I want to export my whole project to PDF, ...
user24654782's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
179 views

Can we use online video lectures to free university professors from lecturing for lower-division courses in mathematics? [closed]

During the 2020-2021 Covid-19 season, universities and colleges around the world made most of their math classes online over Zoom and many professors have their recorded lectures. Most math lectures ...
No One's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
1k views

When the title of an article is printed differently in the front/back matter versus the first page, which should be used for citing the article?

I wish to cite a research paper by B. L. van der Waerden from 1928 that is titled (very) slightly differently in the front/back matter of the journal versus the first page of the article: in the front/...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
619 views

Advice on who to ask for a letter of recommendation for phd applications?

I am currently in the process of looking for a phd position (in math). Almost all universities require three recommendation letters (some only require two, but ideally I'd have three) from professors. ...
Bert's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
784 views

PhD Mathematics Admission Advice

Some background on me: I graduated in 2020 with my BS in Accounting with a minor in Mathematical Sciences from a non-special public university. I decided I wanted to make an educational career change ...
sroma1997's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
449 views

Does it get easier?

So I'm a current PhD student in applied math. My interests have somewhat gravitated over time so I feel like I'm constantly in new territory and constantly struggling to understand the papers I read. ...
lady gaga's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
298 views

Publishing in Mathematics and Computer Science related journals

I have seen Elsevier journals offer Gold open access and Green open access options, when I was checking for journals related to Mathematics and Computer Science. I have understood that Gold open ...
Buddhini Angelika's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

On math papers and general questions they need to address

If you proved something new in math and want to publish it (or even before you've started proving that and before you have thoughts on publishing anything), do you need to answer questions like "...
user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
677 views

How can a student evaluate themself?

For background, I'm a first year PhD student in a mathematics program. Basically, I can't tell if I'm "where I should be". As an undergrad, I read before class and lecture felt like a nice ...
Square's user avatar
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9 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is physics (and engineering) at university more like high school physics or high school math? [closed]

I am in high school and I find myself enjoying math a lot more than physics, probably because of the more focused teaching approach found in physics, which looks at specific cases and experiments and ...
bukarest01's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
348 views

Careers in Mathematics

I am currently an undergraduate freshman student at Tulane University. I thought for a long time that chemistry was my purpose, but after actually interacting with the school's science department I've ...
Hayden Outlaw's user avatar
97 votes
12 answers
24k views

First year Math PhD student; My problem solving skill has been completely atrophied and continues to decline

I'm a first year PhD student in mathematics and I'm in a pretty bad spot. Over the last year or so of undergrad and first semester of grad school, I've completely atrophied my problem solving skill. ...
Atrophied_Skills's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
153 views

What does a seminar host typically do? [closed]

At the weekly seminars in my department, for any professor who's flying in to town this semester, there's typically a professor from our department that is the "host" for this seminar ...
user134902's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
1k views

Do I mention that a paper in mathematics is a "Short Communication" or "Note" or "Research Article" when citing it?

Apologies in advance for a possibly naive question. When I search for literature relevant to my research work, I come across articles that are published variously as either a "Short Communication&...
user avatar
45 votes
5 answers
8k views

What did Grothendieck mean by "the capacity to be alone" in the context of mathematical research?

I'm confused about a statement Alexander Grothendieck made in his book Récoltes et semailles. In fact, most of these comrades whom I gauged to be more brilliant than me have gone on to become ...
jasmine's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
247 views

Rejecting graduate school offer while recommending classmate - can this be appropriate?

I am an undergraduate at a U.S. university with a top-10 graduate program in mathematics. I applied to mathematics PhD programs this year, and was lucky enough to get quite a few offers at good places....
Mike 691's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
360 views

I have some (possibly) original results and advisor cannot help, how should I proceed?

I am a master student in mathematics. I developed a new notion and did calculations for some examples. I believe it is original because I can't find it in literature. Now I want to publish my results, ...
Ken.Wong's user avatar
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26 votes
5 answers
13k views

Crackpot research paper in mathematics

How does a math journal react to a crackpot math research paper? In mathematics (especially in Number Theory) there are many meaningless papers on the web, and possibly a ton of meaningless ...
No name's user avatar
  • 419
19 votes
4 answers
5k views

As an undergraduate, is it alright to get help finishing my paper?

15 months ago, I improved the bounds for an open math problem which I think is worthy of publication. Later, 9 months ago, I came up with two further results that I also would like to publish. I have ...
Zach Hunter's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
309 views

Wrong way of teaching

I am from a South Asian country. I did my Msc in mathematics from a flagship university in our country. I think some parts of the course structure and the syllabus is incorrect. For example ...
No name's user avatar
  • 419
14 votes
8 answers
5k views

What type of letter is Pierre Deligne talking about and why did he write a letter to other mathematicians?

Today I watched a YouTube video interview of Pierre Deligne. I have some confusion about a statement given by Pierre (video timing: 56:33 to 58:20). Here is the outline of the statement in the video: ...
jasmine's user avatar
  • 1,485
-1 votes
1 answer
159 views

Is Fundamental Groups (Algebraic Topology) sufficient for graduate programme interview? [closed]

Is Fundamental Groups sufficient for graduate programme interview? Suppose if someone is going to complete master program and planning to do PhD. He/she is doing preparation for PhD interview(viva)....
jasmine's user avatar
  • 1,485
5 votes
3 answers
433 views

How narrow or broad should I look for undergraduate research?

I'm currently an American sophomore undergrad and I'm looking into research opportunities at the moment. My problem is that the area of mathematics that interests me the most is mathematical logic and ...
tox123's user avatar
  • 124
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is it possible to get into graduate school for math with a non-math UG degree?

I'm an undergraduate biology and chemical engineering dual major student. I recently got into pure math while I was researching patterns in biology which lead me down the rabbit hole of fractals and ...
Edward Pevensie's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
95 views

Query regarding the academic journal submission

Asking on behalf of my friend. He had worked on some problems in the summer of 2018 when he was a student at some X university. After a year, he again started working on the same problem and will be ...
Vans1904's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
156 views

Importance of campus for mathematicians [closed]

I am a graduate student in mathematics, currently working from home due to the COVID crisis. Even though , yea, pure mathematicians can work from home, but I really miss the campus and the environment ...
MA1001's user avatar
  • 9
0 votes
2 answers
375 views

Is this plagarism? (Maths assignment)

EDIT: Could the downvoter please let me know if I should improve my question in some way. For clarity, I am asking whether what I describe below is considered plagarism, and if so what the ...
JaimePQ's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes
1 answer
519 views

Peer review process in a math journal

I am a resident of a 3rd world country in a south Asian country. I have completed my Msc in math from a place which is not well known for math. While an Msc student, I wrote a solo author paper on ...
No name's user avatar
  • 419
-1 votes
1 answer
187 views

Should I Change my Research Focus?

I just finished my first semester in a PhD program in Pure and Applied mathematics. My initial focus was on probability, statistics, modeling, and machine learning. To this end I took a course in (...
Drew's user avatar
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20 votes
5 answers
10k views

When does "copying" a math diagram become plagiarism?

If you copy paste a diagram from a paper/book onto your own work, without permission or attribution, that's plagiarism. What happens if you see a beautiful diagram about what you want to explain and ...
Makogan's user avatar
  • 1,140
1 vote
1 answer
565 views

How do I find summer projects in math?

I'm a sophomore undergraduate majoring in mathematics, and I'm pretty sure about eventually applying to graduate school in pure math. However, I haven't done much other than coursework so far, and I'm ...
stoic-santiago's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
464 views

Plagiarism - bachelor thesis

I recently turned in my bachelor thesis and just now realised that there is a missing citation in the text. it's kind of a grey area since i'm mentioning earlier formulas that are cited and based on ...
Erik's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
1 answer
137 views

Adjunct position at Johns Hopkins Engineering [closed]

I was reading the Notices of the AMS, and saw an advertisement for a part-time adjunct position for the "Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals" (https://ep.jhu.edu/about/teachforus/) ...
user133715's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
123 views

If I address which professor I want to work with in SOP for PhD application, what are the actual odds that I end up working with them? (pure math, US)

I am preparing for math PhD application next year, and I've seen many advice that it would be a good idea to address who I want to work with and what area of math I want to specialize in. But I was ...
able20's user avatar
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