3 ms·
I don't doubt that. I'm not a mathematician, just a guy who took some classes in college. For a noob like me, this is all cool to see for the first time.
by vecter 7y ago
I don't doubt that. I'm not a mathematician, just a guy who took some classes in college. For a noob like me, this is all cool to see for the first time.
- xdavidliu 7y agoI don't actually think it is that well-known, you were completely right to point out. Also, I suspect the "dynamical systems" wikipedia page is completely irrelevant.
- oefrha 7y agoThe Collatz map defines a discrete dynamical system on N^+. I don't know about your background, but the connection isn't hard to see for anyone with a tangentially related background. I have studied https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic_dynamics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic_dynamics (that page does mention Collatz incidentally) myself in a past research project, so the connection is known to me. The dynamical systems Wikipedia page serves as an entry point to the broad topic, but it's a huge field and intersects with many others so apparently a single short page isn't gonna cover everything. What I meant was that "Collatz's got something in common with PDEs" isn't the unique insight of Terence. Of course the connection isn't obvious to, say, the average coder, but it's universally known among mathematicians who have at least studied related fields for a little bit. Terence's magic is on a much higher level.
- xdavidliu 7y agoI did my PhD in theoretical physics, and part of my thesis was on nonlinear eigenvalue problems in PDEs. I wasn't aware of the connection; though I guess it really depends on what you mean by "it's well known".