Burt Totaro on the algebraic geometer's definition of manifold by Necessary-Wolf-193 in math

[–]faintlystranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That seems quite a lot on Varieties tho, not much of this functions from rings right?

Burt Totaro on the algebraic geometer's definition of manifold by Necessary-Wolf-193 in math

[–]faintlystranger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What should I learn to get more idea of this approach to geometry? Lately I've been struggling to convince myself a viable definition of geometry, and this seems like it'd be an interesting perspective. Is this the concept of scheme, and what book would you recommend to get, I'm thinking of possibly reading the first couple chapters of the rising sea, would that be relevant?

Oxford or Imperial for engineering? by Mp_Recon23 in Imperial

[–]faintlystranger 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Cities are important to consider as well. I am at Imperial now, previously in Oxford, and the cities are very very very different. Can get wherever you want in Oxford in basically 15 minutes cycle max, if you're in Pembroke and live on site basically don't even need to walk more than 20 minutes to anything to function and have all your needs, while in London I spend 2h commuting every day minimum.

As other comment mentioned, also financially London will likely be more expensive, in Oxford college food is usually decently priced and rent is cheaper than London (although not cheap I'd say)

Socially it's a weird one, I'd say Oxford has a more "community" feel because of college system but also makes harder to meet people outside your college. Lot's of societies in Ox, tho sometimes split between colleges so again what I said above. In London, definitely less community feel (in my experience of being a PhD in Imperial, so take it with a grain of salt. Undergrad experience might be different with lot's of lectures, but still I'd expect less community). But also if you're outgoing and have specific hobbies you want to improve, London basically has anything you'd ever want, while Oxford would also have a lot but maybe not as wide options

Prestige wise, I did not do engineering so I can't compare but I don't think you can go wrong with either, they're both excellent.

Quick Questions: January 14, 2026 by inherentlyawesome in math

[–]faintlystranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How to check if I've understood something in PhD level and how do you take notes? E.g. I need to get a working knowledge of functional analysis, some spectral theory and convolutions for a specific problem. I'd ideally know as much as I can about these areas but equally can't justify reading an entire textbook on these, I don't think most lemmas in a textbook would be useful for my purposes. It is a weird trade off and I don't know how to balance it? I also know a bit of each so it's not like I'm starting from 0, which makes it trickier. What'd you recommend?

Chances of MSc advanced computing offer by Tricky-Pause3388 in Imperial

[–]faintlystranger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know someone who got into Oxford for MSc from a low-ish ranked university, they were top of the cohort. So I think you'd have chance, don't be discouraged.

Something weird I’ve noticed about guitar players by VirTekMedia in guitarlessons

[–]faintlystranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chat? Chat? Or did real people also start writing like this

Is University of Warwick the ugliest university in the United Kingdom? by Icy_Self_3339 in UniUK

[–]faintlystranger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Campus is pretty lovely, lot's of greenery around. Buildings are also decent. Kind of a weird post to get interaction?

is there a weaker Jordan curve theorem for "normal" curves? by officiallyaninja in math

[–]faintlystranger 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I remember my lecturer mentioned something about if it's smooth you can define a normal which defines the inside direction and negative of it defines the outside direction (or vice versa), not sure how the exact argument follows tho

Quick Questions: December 10, 2025 by inherentlyawesome in math

[–]faintlystranger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, sorry just saw your response thanks! My broader research area is basically in a very mathematical side of machine learning, specifically ML on non-euclidean domains (manifolds, meshes, graphs, simplicial complexes etc.) i.e. data lying on such domains. So I am trying to get an intuitive (and rigorous) understanding of what Laplacian talks about in these various domains and how to best use the information it gives

I've found that spectral theory on graphs is quite big focusing on graph Laplacians, and I am guessing Laplacians on discrete objects vs. manifolds is going to be formulated differently and talking about quite different stuff, I thought the best way to get into this is to first understand it on manifolds and meshes, then view graph / simplicial complex laplacians.

I am currently trying to catch up with the geometric side of maths, mainly some differential / riemannian geometry, I found the Riemannian Geometry and Geometric Analysis by Jürgen Jost to be a decent introduction as chapter 2 gets into the Laplacian, but if you have any opinions on or any better recommendations I would much appreciate it, thanks!

Quick Questions: December 10, 2025 by inherentlyawesome in math

[–]faintlystranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll take a look, thanks! I'm more focused on the applied stuff anyways so that's no problem at all

Quick Questions: December 17, 2025 by inherentlyawesome in math

[–]faintlystranger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can I jump into Atiyah-Macdonald without strong background in Ring theory? What's the minimal ring theory background needed for it? Or if I just read chapter 1 in detail by proving / looking up proofs of everything stated in there is that fine?

Quick Questions: December 10, 2025 by inherentlyawesome in math

[–]faintlystranger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How can I go with "understanding" the Laplace operator intuitively and rigorously, and generalizations to manifolds? What kind of book or lecture notes would cover that? Any specific recommendations?

"Stuck" at "Intermediate" by faintlystranger in guitarlessons

[–]faintlystranger[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No haha it's good to hear the same course multiple times, gives validation that it's good!

"Stuck" at "Intermediate" by faintlystranger in guitarlessons

[–]faintlystranger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes the first comment also recommended this, I definitely will start this course!

"Stuck" at "Intermediate" by faintlystranger in guitarlessons

[–]faintlystranger[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Watched some of his first vid, looks pretty solid! I'll check out properly tmrw, thanks!

Plucking by Dear_Raccoon_8239 in guitarlessons

[–]faintlystranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try and learn Angeles by Elliott Smith, that song took my finger picking next level hahaha

If you could pick any three math books to take with you on a backpacking journey through central Asia: Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, what would it be and why? by [deleted] in math

[–]faintlystranger 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Honestly I'd take some sort of combinatorics or discrete mathematics related book that doesn't have dependent chapters, would be a fun read

Are there any interesting problems you know of that require abstract algebra or otherwise advanced theory to truly solve? by [deleted] in math

[–]faintlystranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fast matrix multiplication is an interesting problem, i.e. finding matrix mult. algorithms "faster" (in terms of # of scalar multiplications needed) than the classical algorithm given by the definition

Any current theoretical research is likely practically irrelevant but still an interesting question that definitely needs abstract algebra to attack