Michael Weiss

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What was Euler's motivation for introducing $i$ for $\sqrt{-1}$?

mathematics notation complex-analysis euler asked Nov 22, 2014 at 18:09

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25 votes

What was the vis viva controversy, including its philosophical aspects?

physics classical-mechanics energy asked Nov 30, 2014 at 16:35

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23 votes

Did ancient/medieval non-European cultures have a concept of energy? If so, what are the similarities and differences to the modern concept?

physics ancient-china terminology ancient-india islamic-science asked Nov 17, 2014 at 22:31

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21 votes

What specific problems motivated Poincaré's work on topology?

mathematics topology asked Oct 31, 2014 at 20:39

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19 votes

Examples of Kuhn loss?

examples philosophy-of-science kuhn asked Nov 1, 2014 at 18:43

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17 votes

Is the torus the union of two connected, simply-connected open sets?

algebraic-topology geometric-topology low-dimensional-topology asked Jan 30, 2014 at 20:27

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17 votes

History of terminology: sheaves, presheaves, etc.

math-history sheaf-theory asked May 28, 2014 at 16:42

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14 votes

Is there a domain in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with finite non-trivial $\pi_1$ but $H_1=0$?

general-topology algebraic-topology low-dimensional-topology asked Feb 18, 2014 at 16:32

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9 votes

Proof of Prop. 31.1, Sacks Saturated Model Theory, 1st vs. 2nd edition

logic model-theory asked Jun 17, 2023 at 18:23

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8 votes

Are all elliptic curves from $w^3 = \text{cubic}(z)$ isomorphic?

elliptic-curves riemann-surfaces asked Dec 23, 2013 at 23:13

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Top Answers

Was Occam’s razor ever wrong?

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How to show a representation is irreducible?

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Are there 3 trig functions or are there 6 trig functions?

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Did physicists around 1900 really believe they were close to "figuring it all out"?

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What were the dominant non-atomic theories of matter in the 19th century?

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Does this definition of the element come from the definition of the set?

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What is torsion in differential geometry intuitively?

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(Soft Question) Why don't number theory books start with Peano axioms or derive the rule of product from first principles? Etc?

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Peano axiom of induction with "no junk"

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What sorts of calculations called for the invention of logarithm tables?

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How did group theory enter quantum mechanics?

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Mathematical logic required background

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What was the connection between David Hilbert and Stefan Banach?

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What was Einstein's motivation for relativity theory?

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How did we come up with the name "atomic bomb"?

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Hilbert's reaction to Gödel's incompleteness theorems

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Why is the function $\Omega\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ called a random variable?

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Why is the empty set considered a set?

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Books on the history of linear algebra

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Question on "What St. Augustine didn't say about mathematicians"

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Who discovered that different objects accelerate at the same rate due to gravity?

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Leinster's Category theory model answers

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Intuition for excision

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What is the story behind various uses of the word "spectrum"?

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The Abacus vs. the Electric Calculator (Nov 12, 1946): Why did the latter lose?

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What was wrong with the caloric theory?

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How did prisoners of war discover scientific breakthroughs while interned?

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Why are mathematical results discovered by multiple people independently?

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What if "ZFC +CH is false" has no set universe which interprets it as true?

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Difference between “for some $k$” and “for some arbitrary $k$”

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