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Sandwichpowers
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03 Nov 2016, 12:23 pm

I'm terrible at math alone, mainly because I can't pay attention during lectures. But I'm very good at math when it's applied to physical things, like engineering, which is my favorite subject. It fascinates me. I love patterns and figuring out how things work. That said, I only really love formulaic math, like algebra and calculus. I'm not a big fan of statistics or anything involving graphing. But there's something really satisfying about building a machine and then mathematically dissecting it and figuring out equations for all the things it does.


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BaalChatzaf
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07 Nov 2016, 9:09 am

Sandwichpowers wrote:
I'm terrible at math alone, mainly because I can't pay attention during lectures. But I'm very good at math when it's applied to physical things, like engineering, which is my favorite subject. It fascinates me. I love patterns and figuring out how things work. That said, I only really love formulaic math, like algebra and calculus. I'm not a big fan of statistics or anything involving graphing. But there's something really satisfying about building a machine and then mathematically dissecting it and figuring out equations for all the things it does.


Have you looked at probability theory and statistical inference in detail.

The logic of induction is none other than Bayesian Statistical Inference.


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07 Nov 2016, 9:39 am

Precision and clarity. No unspoken or implied rules, no fuzzy, subjective perceptions. It's like a shelter to me.


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EnigmaticDrScully
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11 Nov 2016, 6:10 am

Every area of mathematics has clear rules and I think that is very comforting.



TJH58
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13 Nov 2016, 9:42 pm

My favorite area of mathematics is mathematical logic. I find recursion theory to be crucial in understanding both the limits and the wonders of algorithmic reasoning. I hope that some day in the near future we will see the P=NP problem solved (in the negative, I might add). There is no reason in my mind to see the problem as undecidable. Logical systems interest me, particularly in the area of non-monotonic logics. I'm very interested in studying defeasible reasoning. Category Theory is yet another interest - some day I hope to work through MacLane's Categories for the Working Mathematician as well.
I think my interest in this area is related to my interest in linguistics. I'm actually an English major, so I'm an autodidact in the field of logic (hence the presence of holes/gaps in my knowledge). I had an interest in technology and programming languages when I was younger, so I think this contributed to my interest in the scientific aspects of language (particularly syntax and semantics). I learned when I hit college that you didn't need to appreciate arithmetic to appreciate mathematics - I learned to appreciate the logical aesthetics of its foundations.



F84.9
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19 Nov 2016, 2:57 pm

What I love(d) about it is that you can just sit down anywhere, with a piece of paper, and do amazingly creative things! People really have no idea that there exists this whole World of patterns, that there's so much unfathomable complexity.
I love(d) exploring seemingly simple things, and arrive at some really interesting results but I only showed them to 1 person and stopped contact.
Ahh... I used to say that I'm in love with her (math). I still am.. but now not so much romantic love.

I believe mathematic is more than a field of knowledge. It's something that makes existence possible (in the metaphysical sense), it's the origin of All, it's what supports my life, my consciousness, the Universe.

:oops: :mrgreen:



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19 Nov 2016, 9:12 pm

F84.9 wrote:
What I love(d) about it is that you can just sit down anywhere, with a piece of paper, and do amazingly creative things! People really have no idea that there exists this whole World of patterns, that there's so much unfathomable complexity.
I love(d) exploring seemingly simple things, and arrive at some really interesting results but I only showed them to 1 person and stopped contact.
Ahh... I used to say that I'm in love with her (math). I still am.. but now not so much romantic love.

I believe mathematic is more than a field of knowledge. It's something that makes existence possible (in the metaphysical sense), it's the origin of All, it's what supports my life, my consciousness, the Universe.

:oops: :mrgreen:


Get on a math blog and share your results. Or publish if you can.


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07 Dec 2016, 8:40 pm

It can be so beautiful.

I especially loved manifolds, non-Euclidean geometry, that sort of spatial/conceptual thing. It has been so long since I studied them! :-( But I feel very lucky to have been able to, and the memory is still there.

(I love many things I'm doing now too; programming, ecology/nature -related.)



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08 Dec 2016, 9:41 pm

F84.9 wrote:
What I love(d) about it is that you can just sit down anywhere, with a piece of paper, and do amazingly creative things! People really have no idea that there exists this whole World of patterns, that there's so much unfathomable complexity.
I love(d) exploring seemingly simple things, and arrive at some really interesting results but I only showed them to 1 person and stopped contact.
Ahh... I used to say that I'm in love with her (math). I still am.. but now not so much romantic love.

I believe mathematic is more than a field of knowledge. It's something that makes existence possible (in the metaphysical sense), it's the origin of All, it's what supports my life, my consciousness, the Universe.

:oops: :mrgreen:


Here is something you can do with a piece of paper. Origami. It is very mathematical.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathemati ... er_folding


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BaalChatzaf
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08 Dec 2016, 9:43 pm

klausnrooster wrote:
Similarly to Ganondox I think; if some math describes something true in our universe, and you manipulate the equations (or inequalities, etc) properly, (according to the discovered rules) - then your result also describes something true in the universe. You may not yet have the means to verify it, but you can bank on it...
.. to a point. It may be that your starting point was just a set of good approximations and not absolutes, but still you have something useful within a certain context. You should be associating this with, say, Newtonian physics versus Relativity versus Quantum physics. But in the everyday world, such manipulations are immensely useful. Here's an example: velocity-of-money (wikipedia)


Math is one of several tools that can be used to reveal true things about the world. Math in and of itself is not true in the sense of being factual.


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VYcma
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10 Dec 2016, 11:38 am

I see it as a tool or a language to help us better understand physics.


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nhrade
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19 Dec 2016, 5:52 am

Well partially because it's the closest you can get to truth, the world today is filled with so much disinformation and uncertainty that an elegant proof is something of it's own beauty. It's also challenging and not easy to understand (I should qualify this by von Neumann's saying, that you never truly understand mathematics but rather just get used to it), and so thus the difficulty and fear many people associate with math. I also feel like there's some supreme importance to understanding mathematics, much more so than any other subject. All of the sciences are based to some extent on an understanding of mathematics. Computing, my own field is born from mathematics, so in a sense I believe there is some truth in the statement, Mathematics is the language of god.



fourcandles
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19 Dec 2016, 3:53 pm

I struggle with mathematics, but I also see the beauty in it. The idea that there is this other world behind the "real" world that is elegant, logical, and infinitely deep. I just wish it came naturally to me. It's kind of depressing knowing how much there is that I'll never come close to understanding.



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19 Dec 2016, 11:19 pm

EnigmaticDrScully wrote:
Every area of mathematics has clear rules and I think that is very comforting.


It was not always so. In the late 19th century there were very fierce and passionate battles over the nature of infinite quantities. When Georg Cantor invented set theory to deal with infinite collections many mathematicians became rather hostile to Cantor and accused him of being a charlatan. It took nearly 70 years for things to settle down in mathematics and Cantor's set theory became generally accepted.


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20 Dec 2016, 12:13 am

I like the philosophy of math.

The first question to ask yourself, "does math exist outside your brain"?

Some say, "yes" and that philosophical branch is called "math realism".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_realism

Some say, "no" and that philosophical branch is called "math anti-realism".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-realism



Sonikku
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20 Dec 2016, 12:20 am

I like math because it enables me to build awesome crypto


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