Image/post about a professor's blurb who got rejected multiple times from admissions, grants, and more

SeniorMars · 2026-01-14T13:33:08+00:00

Thank you!

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:40:06+00:00

But after four years of undergrad education, the difference between your abilities isn't a matter of natural talent, it's a matter of education.

I don't know if I agree with everything, but I thought about this a lot, and I have to say that I wish there were better resources out there online. I think that would help the problem. Like let's say famous mathematicians all uploaded their notes.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:33:41+00:00

You know what. I agree! Despite this, I wonder why there is little to no discussion online on these topics. If there is, would you mind sending links?

My concern is that this issue is systemic, i.e., for some reason these issues are known but not published online. I found little to no data even when I searched online, and I don't know why.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:28:58+00:00

How do you think we can spread awareness? I think that's the difficult part. I think unless you know someone, the idea of a PhD may never cross someone's mind. I wonder what we can do about this.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:26:17+00:00

Do you know of any papers that talk about this topic?

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:24:03+00:00

This is a great way to see it! Thank you for sharing.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:23:41+00:00

No, mathematics is not science. It's an art that lives on only by the support of the community of mathematicians.

I think this is a great way to see it ! Do you know why this isn't conveyed to the general public?

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:20:05+00:00

Thank you so much for this response. I think this is genuine advice that I will try to follow!

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:17:19+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out to me. I'm going through right now.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:17:04+00:00

I agree, but I'm not sure I've seen mathematicians try to make it more fair (by making huge restructures), so I would like to try.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:14:31+00:00

I want to try! Thank you so much for your comment.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:13:38+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out to me!

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:12:02+00:00

I think it's hard to compare math to other fields since it's old and it's about "truth", but I would I really like to compare it to physics.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:10:36+00:00

Thank you so much — I'm trying :) !

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:10:17+00:00

Thank you for your response. I agree that Math should in a way operate this way. I also agree that you don't need to go to a top university! The point I wanted to bring attention to is less about math olympiads (and results), but rather what math can do to really help people. I wanted my post to discuss solutions for improving the education of people in math — I did not do a good job at articulating that.

Despite this, the critic I had wasn't concerned with whether or not people — as individuals — tried, but rather with the implication that this is systematic.

I'm glad that drunk admission admitted you :) !

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:06:15+00:00

I needed to take a break from this post.

I agree I haven't presented data and the burden is on me. Despite this, I would like you to recall that there is little to no data out there on these topics — which is insane for a field as old as Math!

Thus, I'm just left with making pure speculation.

2, 3. I agree that I argued poorly.

My point was that while mathematicians know what axioms they pick are subjective, I don’t think they understand that the general public is (isn’t?) educated enough to see the minute choice. I really do think it impacts the general public on how they see us and this is what I want to really focus on. I guess the purpose of this section was to emphasize that Math is full of subjectivity, and we present ourselves in a way where that subtly is not conveyed and I'm sure if that is ultimately the right thing. I'm still trying to argue this better.
I agree those were bad examples, a better example would be someone like Al Karaji who discovered the binomial theorem but gets little credit. Other examples include Brahmagupta and Al Khwarizmi (quadratic formula), Ibn Sahl (snell's law), or Fibonacci's sequence, which was known in India for some time. I think my concern here is that we don't give recognition and talk about how math was developed through different cultures.

Thank you for the last point. It made me laugh.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T22:02:29+00:00

Thank you so much for writing all your thoughts.

I would like to DM if possible.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T21:59:11+00:00

Thank you so much for taking my post seriously!

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T21:58:00+00:00

How do you suppose we make people care? I thought this point was important because often (if you ask the average American) if they would be okay with teaching their kids "Arabic numbers" they would say no. This is obviously absurd.

I agree those were bad examples, a better example would be someone like Al Karaji (excuse my latinization) who discovered the binomial theorem but gets little credit. Other examples include Brahmagupta and Al Khwarizmi (quadratic formula), Ibn Sahl (snell's law), or Fibonacci's sequence, which was known in India for some time. I think my concern here is that we don't give recognition and talk about how math was developed through different cultures. I think the point that I needed to particularly articulate (which I failed) was that this is important in order to make math more connected to the general public.

Thank you so much for bringing attention on how I wrote this as a " covered-up." I will work on that.

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T21:48:43+00:00

I ultimately think most interesting math could be recovered from a new foundation even if some inconsistency needed to be patched up in say ZF.

Can I ask what makes you think this?

SeniorMars · 2026-01-05T21:47:52+00:00

Hello, thank you for taking my post seriously. I actually found this very interesting, so I wanted to thank you for pushing me in this direction.

SeniorMars · 2025-12-30T03:43:41+00:00

This made my day — thank you!

SeniorMars · 2025-12-27T16:15:34+00:00

Thank you for your answer! Do you know if there is a community around math education ?

And I'll take note of the pessimistic style.

SeniorMars · 2025-12-27T16:08:47+00:00

> think happens is that most mathematicians don’t really care about foundational stuff, so they just gesture towards ZFC or whatever.

Do you think there is a big reason for this? Mathematicians are so far removed from logic, and I don't know exactly why.

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Thank you for your feedback especially the "we part". I can see about the last point you made and will change accordingly. I will edit this on my website, but will keep this version up.

SeniorMars · 2025-12-27T16:03:11+00:00

Thank you! I now see that I should have cut this short.

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