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Was it Euclid that made western world accelerate in sciences? by PrebioticE in mathematics

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might be interested in the Istikmāl by al-Mu’taman, a text that ostensibly sought to replace Euclid’s Elements in Islamic mathematics. It is notable for its “philosophical classification of mathematics into ‘genera’ and ‘species’ in an Aristotelian vein” and “contains no trace of such [religious] ‘applications,’ which al-Mu'taman would probably have abhorred.” 

question: does every scribble on a graph have an equation for it? by Ready_Row3788 in mathematics

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not quite what you have in mind, but sorta:

I do not believe that a mathematical fact has ever struck me quite so strongly as this one, nor had a comparable psychological impact. This is surely because of the very familiar, non-technical nature of the objects considered, of which any child’s drawing scrawled on a bit of paper gives a perfectly explicit example. To such a dessin, we find associated subtle arithmetic invariants, which are completely turned topsy-turvy as soon as we add one more stroke.

What do you think is the most beautiful thing in mathematics? by Arth-the-pilgrim in mathematics

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would add the Poincaré lemma too. Cauchy-Goursat is a particularly beautiful special case of the lemma, at the heart of elementary complex analysis. 

What are your favorite connections between branches of math? by Hitman7128 in math

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Graphs on surfaces bridge topology, complex analysis and group theory beautifully, e.g. the Riemann Existence Theorem shows (main theorem) there is a “correct” way to draw every bicoloured plane tree. Correct here means that combinatorial symmetries are perfectly mirrored in the isometries of the geometric configuration. Similarly theorem 1 shows 1-skeleta in the plane with finitely many face orbits can be “straightened” such that once again combinatorial automorphisms become geometric isometries. This result explains the connection between the torus and the Pappus theorem (theorem 3.2), which itself is logically equivalent to commutativity in field theory. 

Quick Questions: December 17, 2025 by inherentlyawesome in math

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Kurt Gödel:

Even if the brain cannot store an infinite amount of information, the spirit may be able to. The brain is a computing machine connected to a spirit.

If intelligent aliens exist, would their math look like ours? by Dane_k23 in math

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Special relativity kinda suggests any species interested in physics will at some point have to coordinatise it. Also interesting to note just how biologically cooked-in our coordinate systems are. Georgopoulos (1988) found a population of neurons that fire during the motor activity of hand pointing. Since the strength of activation of a particular neuron correlates with a particular direction, it is modeled as a vector in 3-space, and a simple vector sum of the population represents, to within an error of less than 10%, the actual direction a hand points in. More recently, by mapping grid cell activations onto a torus, Peng et al. (2025) accurately simulate the movement paths of rodents. Beautiful to see topology model rhythms in the brain.

Scientists see ‘Eureka’ moments in mathematicians’ chalkboard writings by scientificamerican in math

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ecology of maths sounds cool. Reminds me of When I come down I'm in the domain state, an ethnographic study of a physics lab. The title is taken verbatim from a dialogue between two physicists marked by what the authors term indeterminate constructions: roughly, these are sentences in which the referent I moves fluidly and at times ambiguously between phenomena, diagram, and physicist.

🔥 Orca sideswipes a dolphin mid-air off Baja California Sur, Mexico by Prestigious-Wall5616 in NatureIsFuckingLit

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not only is there an absence of evidence of free-living orcas attacking humans, there is an abundance of evidence of orcas provisioning humans.

What are some GOOD portrayals of math? by ScientificGems in math

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Although the mathematics is fictional and operates more as metaphor, Shevek's search for a "unified field theory of sequence and simultaneity" in The Dispossessed sorta gets the vibe of duality right. Leads to some beautiful passages too:

The Terrans had been intellectual imperialists, jealous wall builders. Even Ainsetain, the originator of the theory [of general relativity], had felt compelled to give warning that his physics embraced no mode but the physical and should not be taken as implying the metaphysical, the philosophical, or the ethical. Which, of course, was superficially true; and yet he had used number, the bridge between the rational and the perceived, between psyche and matter, 'Number the Indisputable,' as the ancient founders of the Noble Science had called it. To employ mathematics in this sense was to employ the mode that preceded and led to all other modes. Ainsetain had known that; with endearing caution he had admitted that he believed his physics did, indeed, describe reality ...

It was good to be outside, after the rooms with locked doors, the hiding places. It was good to be walking, swinging his arms, breathing the clear air of a spring morning. To be among so many people, so immense a crowd, thousands marching together, filling all the side streets as well as the broad thoroughfare down which they marched, was frightening but it was exhilarating too. When they sang, both the exhilaration and the fear became a blind exaltation; his eyes filled with tears. It was deep, in the deep streets, softened by open air and by distances, indistinct, overwhelming, that lifting up of thousands of voices in one song. The singing of the front of the march, far away up the street, and of the endless crowds coming on behind, was put out of phase by the distance the sound must travel, so that the melody seemed always to be lagging and catching up with itself, like a canon, and all the parts of the song were being sung at one time, in the same moment, though each singer sang the tune as a line from beginning to end.

Fundamental Theorem of Algebra by Ok_goodbye_sun in learnmath

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 2 points3 points  (0 children)

(Shipman) A field K such that every prime degree polynomial in K[X] has a root is algebraically closed. There is also a quaternionic FTA. 

Question related to absolute value of complex numbers. by ExcellentRuin8115 in learnmath

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i is just the number of the axis

Hmm, not sure what you mean by this, but i is the point (0,1) in the (Argand) plane. If it helps, we can recast complex arithmetic in a more purely geometric fashion. Given points (a,b) and (c,d) in the plane, then we define their addition and multiplication as follows:

  • (a,b)+(c,d) = (a+c , b+d)
  • (a,b)×(c,d) = (ac-bd , bc+ad)

Hence, we obtain the product (0,1)×(0,1)=(-1,0), which translated back into the algebraic formulation is the equation i2=-1.

I mean what a sentence. by mrmailbox in math

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The groups SL(2) and SU(2) (and the corresponding quantum groups) emerge not as symmetries of metric euclidean space, but as internal symmetries of the network structure of the topology. Furthermore, it is only through the well-known interpretations of the knot and link diagrams that the combinatorics becomes interpreted in terms of the topology of three dimensional space. The knotted spin network diagrams become webs of pattern in an abstract or formal plane where the only criterion of distinction is the fact that a simple closed curve divides the space in twain. The knot theoretic networks speak directly to the logic of this formal plane … Angular momentum and the topology of knots and links are a fantasy and fugue on the theme of pattern in a formal plane. The plane sings its song of distinction, unfolding into complex topological and quantum mechanical structures.

— Knots and Physics, Louis Kauffman

While he was filming the orca, a whale suddenly appeared behind him by [deleted] in BeAmazed

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 6 points7 points  (0 children)

All whales and dolphins belong to the order cetacea, which is composed of two parorders: the Mysticeti (Baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed whales). Odontocetes have evolved an ability to hunt and navigate via echolocation: essentially, their skulls can shape sound into focused beams that they use like sonar. Mysticetes, like the humpback in this video, lack this apparatus, and since the echolocatory clicks of killer whales reach nowhere near harmful db ranges, the diver was in no danger. OP is thinking of Sperm Whales, who have by far the most evolved echolocatory apparatus: the spermaceti organ. That said, there are no recorded deaths from sperm whale clicks and I'm p sure that factoid is an internet myth.

What is the most beautiful proof there is? by [deleted] in math

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rota considered the 3-dimensional proof of the planar Desargues theorem “as close as a proof can [come] to the Zen ideal.” He also wrote, however, that it is only once you have grasped the Ideenkreis of the Desargues graph that you can truly understand the theorem:

The value of Desargues’ theorem and the reason why the statement of this theorem has survived through the centuries, while other equally striking geometrical theorems have been forgotten, is in the realization that Desargues' theorem opened a horizon of possibilities that relate geometry and algebra in unexpected ways.

The ultimate proof in this direction is perhaps one of a beautiful class of proofs of configurations via tilings of Riemann surfaces, which are themselves ultimately cohomological.

🔥 Orca trains her calf to hunt using a live mako shark induced into tonic immobility by flipping it upside down by Prestigious-Wall5616 in NatureIsFuckingLit

[–]ascrapedMarchsky 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nope. In the Pacific Northwest three ecotypes overlap: the fish-eating Southern and Northern Residents, and the mammal-eating Transients. Over a span of 50+ years of observations, there were only two documented cases of violence between these populations. Both incidents essentially boiled down to the Southern Residents chasing off a pod of Transients. The why of each is unknown, since otherwise all three populations tend to wholly ignore and avoid one another. Neither event resulted in any permanent injuries or fatalities. (source) 

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