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#maths

81 posts54 participants3 posts today

🔴 **Descartes’ Mathematics**

“_In La Géométrie, Descartes details a groundbreaking program for geometrical problem-solving—what he refers to as a “geometrical calculus” (calcul géométrique)—that rests on a distinctive approach to the relationship between algebra and geometry._”

Domski, Mary, “Descartes’ Mathematics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), forthcoming URL = <plato.stanford.edu/archives/su>.

Je travaille le chapitre sur les variables aléatoires en terminale et il y a des vraies choses profondes derrière (les histoires de convergences etc., entre autre). Évidemment je n'aurai pas le temps de mentionner tout ça, mais ça fait plaisir de réfléchir de nouveau à ces notions.

J'espère que j'aurai la question « Pourquoi est-ce que la loi faible des grands nombres est appelée faible ? » pour éveiller les curiosités.

"De tous les scientifiques, les mathématiciens sont à coup sûr les plus attachés à leurs bibliothèques. C'est normal : d'une part, les écrits mathématiques sont souvent longs et difficiles à maîtriser, et d'autre part leur durée de vie est considérable. Dans quelle autre science trouve-t-on des articles qui peuvent atteindre plusieurs centaines de pages ? Et dans quelle autre science trouve-t-on des traités qui restent valables[...]"– Cédric Villani (1973-)
#citation #mathématiques #maths #math

"Of all scientists, mathematicians are undoubtedly the most committed to their libraries. This is understandable: on the one hand, mathematical writings are often long and difficult to master, and on the other hand, their lifespan is considerable. In what other science do we find articles that can run to several hundred pages? And in what other science do we find treatises that remain valid for centuries, even millennia [...]" – Cédric Villani (1973-)
#quote #mathematics #maths #math

Question for the mathematicians and scientists out there. Anyone able to help me in working out what they have actually done here to calculate the "Mean Wind"? The data they used was obtained from the ERA5 dataset so comes in hourly values for U (east-west) and V (north-south) component.

#science#maths#help

#Math #Maths #Mathematics I get maths students coming to me in their last year of high school not having learnt the main reason we use radians rather than degrees

Essentially, calculus.

E.g. the derivative of a trig function where the variable is in radians, is simpler/cleaner than in degrees, for example:

If x is in radians then
d/dx (sin x) = cos x

In degrees:
d/dx (sin x) = (pi/180) cos x

The extra factor of (pi/180) makes things messy.

Replied in thread

@JacquesTimmermans
I recall learning about the quaternions surprisingly early in life and becoming somewhat obsessed with them and other related algebras I managed to discover along the way all of which seemed to provide sensible finite numbers of solutions to various problems; then suddenly realising one day, some years later, that Hamilton had not only found three square roots of minus one but that *every point* on the unit imaginary sphere is a square root of minus one...
#maths #mathematics