What is Mathematician: Definition and 141 Discussions

i like calculus very very much, but i hate linear algebra, and probability, and matrices. i hate it, but i can accept it, but not as easy as i understand the calculus... so, anyone can tell me, am i qualified to be mathematician? or maybe mathematician that majoring in calculus.. is there any?

i'm on first year of physics studies, but i got a little dilemma - do i want to be a mathematician, or phycist? I'm thinking about being theoretical physicist - but at the moment - math is much much more interesting to me than physics. I think that may change when i'll start to learn about...

Found this while lurking around, thought I'd share: http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~riesbeck/mathphyseng.html Bai bai.

Hi, I've posted this on other forums and have had little to no help. I thought this forum looked very good so hoping someone can help. Sorry for the non specific title of the thread, I don't know what the following problem should be called! I don't think it is too hard but I stopped...

What fields can an applied mathematician work in (other than in academia)? Assume that he gets a Ph. D.. Do private sector companies hire applied mathematicians? To do what kind of things?

"why am i a mathematician?" [quick story] http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~ghrist/whyami.html" are very fun to read.

"Is God a Mathematician?", Dr. Mario Livio Abstract: For centuries, mathematical theories have proven uncannily accurate at describing - and predicting -the physical world. What is it that gives mathematics such powers? I will thoroughly review this question in "Is God A Mathematician?" (a...

Hi all, I'll be starting my final year of my undergraduate degree in pure mathematics next year. My intention is to do postgraduate work and then try to get a position as a research fellow. However, I don't really know what a research mathematician does on a day to day basis, I just like the...

Someone in this forum kindly posted the link: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html#bottom in which Gerard 't Hooft (nobel prize in physics) describes o be come a good theoretical physicist . Can somebody suggest or provide a link to an analogous plane but to be a pure mathematician?

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6307289 So instead of Ice-T, we have 273.15?

whats the main differences and which one one would help get into grad school? I am looking into pure math and quite possibly physics as well.

the applied math curriculum is very weak at my school so I've been fishing around in other departments trying to cobble together some useful skills. as of right now that I've only taken the basics but next semester i have seemingly decent choices for classes. available to me are: computational...

Homework Statement https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=221581 Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution

I love doing proofs, but hate doing computational questions. If I become very good with proofs but remain just so-so with calculational problems, can I still become a good mathematician? My favourite subject is topology.

I know Archimedes is considered to be the greatest mathematician. I like to make a case for Brahmagupta. 1) Incorporation of zer and negative numbers to the Hind Arabic number system 2) Develop arbitrary rules for four fundamental operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and...

Hi everyone, Does anyone have any recommendations on good textbooks (or websites) that help translate the mathematicians' language of tensors (strictly as multilinear maps to the underlying field) and forms (as alternating tensor fields) to the language used by physicists? For example, I want...

So, who's your favorite living mathematician? I think mine is mathwonk.

You're too much a mathematician if ... Hi all, I thought it would be funny to open a thread like this. So feel free to post! You're too much of a mathematician if ... ... if you think that "epsilon < 0" is funny.

Here is my background: in tenth grade I was very average in the fields of maths and science. To tell the truth, I was far more interested in arts. But when I first discovered Newton's equations on motion, there was a big change. I was so intrigued by those that I started to read about physics...

This goes out as a question mostly to mathwonk, b/c he is a mathematician. Quick into, to help with my question, and b/c I'm totally new to this forum. I'm x-navy. I was an electronic technician from 96 to 02. I am a math major in his 5th year (I took 1 year to off to explore EE, and...

I heard from that Stocks,the famous mathematician who I appreciate very much,made a theory to explain the experiments which lead to the birth of special relativity.Anyone who knows it please tell me.

This is probably not a very typical question. I have PhD in Math…in the area (combinatorial/geometric group theory) not very strongly related to physics :) Afterwards I've got a degree in finance and now I work as a quant in financial industry. I got interested in physics recently and...

Alexandre Borovik wrote a really wonderful http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~avb/pdf/WhatIsIt.pdf" on this topic, as a comment and aid in the problem of developing the next generation of creative mathematicians in the UK, his adopted country. He takes a hard cold look at the realities, as...

I just finished reading it, and I liked it, but I wonder how much of his description of a day of a research mathematician is true?

from look at the list of math competitions here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_Competitions#International_mathematics_competitions i don t see any competitons directed specifically toward professional mathematician. I think there are programming competitons for programmers (...

I'm a third year CS/AI student. I love computer science but I also love mathematics and I sometimes wish that I studied maths outright or at least did a CS/maths joint degree. As part of my degree, I've had to study two years of maths, as well as be able to pick further "theoretical courses"...

Do Mathematician "understand" or like Physics?.. This is an strange point of view...when staying at university Physicist and Mathematician shared a common subject "Theoretical Mechanics" including Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Approach..it surprised me a bit that several math student had some...

I am interested in starting this discussion in imitation of Zappers fine forum on becoming a physicist, although i have no such clean cut advice to offer on becoming a mathematician. All I can say is I am one. My path here was that I love the topic, and never found another as compelling or...

...or should i say 'made or socialized' mathematician? whatever, my inspiration just took yet another major shot in the arm. here I am; every word hits the nail on the head: http://www.personalitypage.com/INTJ.html the career counsellor i met with had a sheet with similar info on it, but...

I'm still searching for a major and career that would fit me best. I'm sure this has been asked many times here, sorry if so. My whole life I've been gifted in math, it comes easy and I like it. I've started learning about more complicated stuff like Pascal's triangle, Fibinachi(sp?) numbers...

Once upon a time a king wanted to hire the best Mathematician in his kingdom to work in his palace. His servants brought to him the best two mathematicians, one of them was blind. The king told both mathematicians that he can't hire both so he will ask a question and whoever answers gets the...

Hey So...I think I'll ask you guys how am I going to be an astronomer or a mathematician? Any answer is greatly appreciated.:biggrin:

Why isn't the mathematician Henri Poincaré acknowledged as the true discoverer of special relativity? http://www-cosmosaf.iap.fr/Poincare-RR3A.htm http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408077

i am 16 a high school grad i wanted 2 know if it was possible for me 2 be the greatest mathematician of all times ,already my friends call me the goat i.e the greatest of all times pls let me know

Hi everybody, I wonder what it takes to be a mathematician researcher. Are there many people out there that DO research in mathematics or most of them "research" while for example teaching at a University? Are reseach projects supported by any foundations? And i mean not only researches in...

I wasn't sure where to start this thread, but I figured a forum where people give advice to college age students is a good cabdidate. I am 24 year old Computer Engineer working for one of the major corporations in this field. I like writing RTL and software (though there are drawbacks to...

This post is a sincere request for help. I assume that the following problem can be represented by a differential equation and that only a mathematician can solve it. Let A={real numbers x such that |x|<1} Let S={real numbers Z such that 1 < Z < infinity} Define ^ on A by the rule x^y...

I searched my dictionary and it said: Science which deals with qualities of numbers and figures. Is this the definition you would give or do you know a better one? and How would you explain Mathematics to a layman?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/030929055601.htm

i am not yet a physicist nor mathematician but i wnated to know what kind of other are there for them beside research in acadamy and tutoring? some examples I've come to are: cryptographer, opticicst (if that's how you call someone who is working in optics).

I have disocovered a formula for Pi(x) function in number theory...where could i send it?..in fact i thinks there was a contest for getting the Pi(x)function so i would like to know the webpage to take part and send it i think i should have at least an opportunity to have my job reviewed and if...