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I hate such articles. Please use theorems and proofs with pedagogy in mind, other wise it is just a nother failed miracle cure for cancer.

jhanschoo 7y ago
You can find the paper preprint here https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.05438.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.05438.pdf linked to by the author. What you're asking for is impossible. A paper is already written to communicate to other mathematicians; teaching the prerequisites not mentioned in the paper can't fit in anything but a graduate textbook. The magazine article still serves a purpose. It sketches the shape of the problem and the approach for the proof, and this is useful to math practitioners of at least undergraduate level, in the sense that they may take inspiration from the approach in their own problems, or may convinced enough to have a look at the actual paper, or have to a first approximation a sense of whether this paper can help them.
- commandlinefan 7y ago
  I wish I could get a handle on what I needed to learn in order to understand this stuff. I dug out my old undergraduate calculus textbook and started working through all the problems; I'm about halfway through now, but terms like "lattice", "zeta function" and "Laplace transforms" are still greek to me (sometimes literally).
  - gtani 7y ago
    To bootstrap your understanding in general, pursue calculus, linear algebra and probability in tandem, then go thru texts on real analysis and abstract algebra. Also math summary books: Courant/Robbins, Ian Stewart has a couple, Stillwell "Elements of"
    - commandlinefan 7y ago
      Thanks, much appreciated! I’m about half-way through my calculus textbook right now, and I’m actually learning quite a bit since I’m going over some of the sections my instructor skipped over (plus it’s been 30 years since I took the class, so I’m re-learning a thing or two that I had forgotten…). Any recommendations for real analysis and abstract algebra texts? I’m self-studying, so I’m looking for books that include lots of practice problems with answers (at least) in the back of the book so I can check to see if I’m on the right track.
      - jhanschoo 7y ago
        I recommend heading over to reddit's r/math to ask for undergrad book recommendations! They're friendly, and the quality of discussion there is surprisingly high compared to other subreddits.

jhanschoo 7y ago

You can find the paper preprint here https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.05438.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.05438.pdf linked to by the author. What you're asking for is impossible. A paper is already written to communicate to other mathematicians; teaching the prerequisites not mentioned in the paper can't fit in anything but a graduate textbook. The magazine article still serves a purpose. It sketches the shape of the problem and the approach for the proof, and this is useful to math practitioners of at least undergraduate level, in the sense that they may take inspiration from the approach in their own problems, or may convinced enough to have a look at the actual paper, or have to a first approximation a sense of whether this paper can help them.

commandlinefan 7y ago
I wish I could get a handle on what I needed to learn in order to understand this stuff. I dug out my old undergraduate calculus textbook and started working through all the problems; I'm about halfway through now, but terms like "lattice", "zeta function" and "Laplace transforms" are still greek to me (sometimes literally).
- gtani 7y ago
  To bootstrap your understanding in general, pursue calculus, linear algebra and probability in tandem, then go thru texts on real analysis and abstract algebra. Also math summary books: Courant/Robbins, Ian Stewart has a couple, Stillwell "Elements of"
  - commandlinefan 7y ago
    Thanks, much appreciated! I’m about half-way through my calculus textbook right now, and I’m actually learning quite a bit since I’m going over some of the sections my instructor skipped over (plus it’s been 30 years since I took the class, so I’m re-learning a thing or two that I had forgotten…). Any recommendations for real analysis and abstract algebra texts? I’m self-studying, so I’m looking for books that include lots of practice problems with answers (at least) in the back of the book so I can check to see if I’m on the right track.
    - jhanschoo 7y ago
      I recommend heading over to reddit's r/math to ask for undergrad book recommendations! They're friendly, and the quality of discussion there is surprisingly high compared to other subreddits.