Recent content by eof

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    Schools Will Physics Help My Math Grad School Application?

    It won't hurt and depending on what you intend to work on it might help a lot. Say you are interested in complex algebraic geometry, mathematical physics etc. then knowing physics will be a big plus. In general it will help just as much as having studied a lot of computer science or anything...
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    How many people graduate from their undergrad in less than 4 years, but also admitted

    There's a guy in my Ph.D. program who is a 3rd year starting this fall and he's 20. In my (and his) concentration we are ranked ~10 by US News.
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    Schools Can I Apply for Math Grad School with a Double Major in Physics?

    Well Edward Witten got into grad school in physics and he was an English major. It doesn't really matter as long as you have the prerequisites they expect.
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    A Mathematician's Lament: An essay on mathematics education

    I remember having read Lockhart's essay a while back. I think my biggest issue with math is that we do not tell kids why the boring stuff we are learning should actually be appreciated. With this I mean Alfred Whitehead's famous quote: Civilization advances by extending the number of...
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    Programs Mathematics PhD programs of highest tier

    All professors except one are from Harvard or Princeton. I would say that it's just a coincidence that there is no one from Stanford, MIT, Berkeley or Chicago.
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    Programs Mathematics PhD programs of highest tier

    I'm a math grad student and I can tell you that the best mathematicians are at the best schools. Period. It's not like in physics where you have a few distinguished faculty members at some schools you've never heard of. Math is very competitive and elitist (much more so than physics, biology...
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    Programs PhD in Pure Math with BSc in CSE

    mrb is right. On my department's website the description of what we look for is something like: We expect you to have taken calculus, abstract and linear algebra, real analysis, you are familiar with proofs and that you have mostly As in these courses. However, the reality is that American...
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    Asking a professor for permission to skip a class

    Well, I'm a grad student and I stopped going to lectures for a course after the second week, but did turn in most of the homework. The reason being that the professor sucks at teaching, though as a reasercher he has done some pretty amazing things. I got an A, so I don't think it's an issue.
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    What's on Your Fall 2010 Science Schedule?

    Grad student (all year-long courses): Algebraic Topology II Algebraic Geometry Advanced Algebraic Number Theory Topics in Algebraic Geometry (Abelian Varieties) The last is going to be an audit though.
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    A problem in algebraic number theory

    I actually figured out why this is impossible... thanks.
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    A problem in algebraic number theory

    Yup, that's exactly the problem I have.
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    A problem in algebraic number theory

    Ok, so I know that an element of that form satisfies the equation: x^2-2rx+r^2-s^2q For a UFD, this would also have to be the polynomial giving the smallest integral relation for r+s*sqrt(q) over A. Thus, we are reduced to when these coefficients belong to A, which gives us conditions on r...
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    A problem in algebraic number theory

    I'm trying to do the homework for a course I found online. A problem on the first homework goes as follows: Suppose A is an integral domain which is integrally closed in its fraction field K. Suppose q in A is not a square, so that K(sqrt(q)) is a quadratic extension of K. Describe the...
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    Good book on linear algebra over rings (i.e. modules)

    Can anyone recommend a book that covers linear algebra through the perspective of modules? I am basically trying to find something that would highlight all the differences between modules and vector spaces. Lam has written the book Lectures on Rings and Modules, which is good, but doesn't...
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    Explore Your Options: Researching in Math Fields

    Are you really sure that you know the stuff that you've taught yourself? If you know that stuff you should be able to do qualifying exam problems for any major university. Can you solve any of the following problems: http://www.math.harvard.edu/graduate/quals/qs09.pdf There is usually a...
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