this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2024
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/c/mathematics (hexbear.net)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Hii, recently I found out that I actually like math and it doesn't have to be scary and it can actually be rly fun. I am very blob-no-thoughts and new to this but hopefully becoming less blob-no-thoughts lol

I have some stuff I wanna post but I don't rly have a place to do it. I just post math-related stuff in the megathreads sometimes lol (btw rly appreciate everyone who replied to me about my dumb gender math thing in the trans megathread hehe, gave me a lot to think about, I actually have a half-finished formal proof based on something that one of you said lol) but it's not a great place to do it tbh. Would be nice to have a comm for discussions that take place over longer time-periods

I have seen other people post math stuff (like our mothematician @[email protected] :3 ) but I feel like I have missed most of it due to it being posted in rly active unspecific-topic communities. I am also available to mod a math comm

Post under here if you would be interested. And ofc a math comm should include logic-posting or rly any formal-systems-posting imo :3

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I would sub to a mathematics comm. I already am a frequent enjoyer of 3blue1brown and numberphile; mathematics stuff always makes my autistic brain v happy

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Pre-emptively call it c/mathematics to prevent a future c/math vs c/maths struggle session which will see threads with thousands of replies and a schism

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

It should be called 'c/moths', actually.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

Hehehe

Yeahh, /c/mathematics is probably a better name tbh

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (2 children)

There was a thread with math jokes a few months back and I'm still upset no one ever acknowledged my contribution.

Yeah, I'll participate. I was abd, I passed qualifying exams in category theory and algebraic topology. Don't remember too much of anything anymore, unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Hehehe, good bit lol

I must have missed that thread. Bit idea: putting undecidable problems (mean option) or unsolved problems (less mean option lol) in memes hehe

Am sorry to hear you don't remember much :/ Do you want to get back into abstract math again? I have been thinking about going back to school (if it's even feasible financially and if I even meet entry requirements anywhere, unsure), possibly for math and it's like..... idk how mathematicians actually get employed outside of research lol (I also have no idea how anyone gets into research). It sucks :( I'm sure you know this struggle much better than me. Idk, this concept has been bothering me a lot cuz I do feel completely trapped in treat servant jobs (I can't even find some corpo software-sludge-development job)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

yes-hahaha-yes-l
sicko-yes

Mothematics time

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm interested. I have a maths degree

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

Same here - haven't used it in, uhhhhh, too damn long chomsky-yes-honeyburgerpain

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

i would be interested

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I'm giving you a wedgie. But a good comm idea

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I’d like a math comm, I’d be willing to moderate it as well.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

You're like the original megathread math-poster :3

Should have a dedicated place to come infodump about partial differential equations or something hehe

Btw, extremely off-topic but, have you ever looked at Marx's work at trying to reinvent calculus from fundamentals? I should go back and reread now that I actually have an interest. Was reading some commentary on his work in calculus a few years ago and the author found it to be quite unique, although lacking a lot of modern understanding ofc

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I’ve looked at it, it’s a cool historic artifact because Marx clearly a great thinker. But it’s contemporary to the developments of modern calculus theory, and from someone unaware of those developments, so it’s pretty dated. The form of it is what would today be called “nonstandard analysis”, is it tries to work with the concept of an infinitesimal, instead of what’s become the standard approach of rigorously defining limits. Might be worth revisiting once reading a bit of introductory analysis, and maybe modern treatment on nonstandard analysis (of which I know very little, but I think logicians have studied it a fair bit?)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Yess, I am always awed by everything Marx managed to accomplish in spite of struggling with political repression, poverty, and health issues, honestly inspiring

Calculus is one of those math topics I truly know nothing about rn (but would like to). I'm not rly sure why standard analysis become "standard" (is this cuz of another argument over consistency again lol) tbh. My understanding is that Marx's interest in calculus came out of wanting a more rigorous, "formal" structure for his work in political economy and dialectical philosophy (which I am VERY interested in). I should look into this sometime :3

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Hell yeah, I'm currently trying to teach myself proof based calculus and linear algebra because I forgot everything since school and would like a place like this for when I get stuck on practice problems!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That's rly cool :3 Am unfamiliar with proof-based calculus but if that means likeee..... formal methods in calculus, that sounds quite fun (I came into this whole thing out of an interest in formalism lol). Should def have a place to help you if you get stuck

Is there any particular reason you're interested btw?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Right now I'm just trying to get through Apostol's Calculus Volume 1 and 2. Almost half way through volume 1 right now. My previous understanding of the topic was whatever I needed in my AP Calculus AB and BC classes from high school which never included any proofs at all.

No particular reason other than I'm also interested in physics and want to improve my math ability to get a better understanding of that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That does sound like a good way to figure out physics more doggirl-grin

I am also working with a high school math education here blob-no-thoughts, except not rly cuz it mostly didn't stick in my brain lol (and it didn't include any calculus courses sadly). Idk... the only way I actually understand things is understanding them as systems and my classes never included anything about proofs and, more broadly, that fact that "math" is more than just a massive set of disconnected rules that you have to remember for manipulating static, already-existing formulas or something lol. The only way I have been able to make any of this make sense to me is by understanding math as.... basically a very complicated constructed language with high social status and multiple overlapping formal-systematic definitions lol. Not saying we should be teaching primary school children set theory necessarily (unless??) but it would have been nice to get some of that in school

One thing that has been rly helpful to me are computer proof systems. Like not only can I look at math concepts and structures proved in these things and see how they relate to the most basic fundamentals/axioms (and how they are proved from them) but I can also attempt my own proofs and have a computer tell me if I'm right or wrong :3

I have mentioned this system before on here but in particular Metamath and its associated database has been essential for me to even barely figure out what is going on lol. If you're unfamiliar, highly rec checking out, for example (related to your study) they actually have a computer-verified formal definition of real and complex analysis proved all the way from the axioms of classical prepositional/predicate calculus and ZFC set theory here: https://us.metamath.org/mpeuni/mmtheorems.html#dtl:13. One of the founding goals of the Metamath project was actually to make abstract math accessible to everyone, not just people who had tens of thousands of dollars (at least) to get a university education. Really cool project, honestly liberatory in a way. It's uhhh not so good as a complete, easy-to-use proof assistant (right now) compared to others but I am attracted by its relative simplicity hehe (the core Metamath program is legit just a few thousand lines of ANSI C code)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Thanks for the link! I'm not yet very fluent with working in logical notation, but this looks like a handy reference for when I get better at it. I feel I learn best when reading more conversationally toned textbooks like Apostol's, but having the same information fully compressed and indexed is extremely useful for getting multiple perspectives when I'm stuck.

And I feel the same way you do about the way math is taught in high school with zero regard for rigor. It hardly gets into what math even really is, it's an extremely misleading introduction to the topic that blindsides people who then go to college intending to pursue it further.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

I can mod. I am already a mod of some others and I have a lot of math experience.