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42 votes
7 answers
2k views
How far can an infinite number of unit length planks bridge a right-angled gap?
Problem: You are standing at the origin of an infinite flat earth. One quadrant of the earth is gone, leaving an infinite abyss. You have an infinite supply of unit-length zero-width planks. How far ...
26 votes
6 answers
2k views
Why is this angle always less than $49°$?
I was drawing this configuration in GeoGebra, repeating it dozens of times, always considering any triangle $ABC$ with the centroid $G$, while maintaining the $25°$ angle. An observation then occurred ...
25 votes
5 answers
597 views
Why does $\left(1+\frac1{x-0.5}\right)^x$ converge to $e$ quicker than $\left(1+\frac1x\right)^x\approx e$?
As something adjacent to the birthday problem, I found that $\frac1{\ln{365}-\ln{364}}$ is very nearly $364$ or $365$, but much closer to $364.5$. This leads to $$\ln{\frac{x+0.5}{x-0.5}}\approx \...
19 votes
6 answers
1k views
What is the correct definition of a limit point in real analysis?
This question relates two (seemingly) conflicting definitions of Limit Points in real analysis. The definition of limit points and closed sets from my notes are written as: A much more general ...
11 votes
10 answers
769 views
+200
Seeking different ways you can find $x=8$ in $(x-6)^3 = x^{\frac{1}{3}}+6$
I thought about the problem of finding an x such that $$ (x-6)^3 = x^{1/3} + 6 $$ for a secondary-school class, in a context where students were studying functions and their inverses. They eventually ...
9 votes
10 answers
697 views
Evaluate $\int_0^{\frac\pi2}\frac{\mathrm dx}{a\sin ^2x+b\cos ^2x}$ without using its antiderivative
Find the value of $$\int_0^{\frac\pi2} \frac{1}{a \sin ^2x+b \cos ^2x} \, \mathrm dx,$$ where $a$, $b>0$. The corresponding indefinite integral evaluates to $$\int \frac{1}{a \sin ^2x+b \cos ^2x} \...
11 votes
5 answers
2k views
Why Is the Dual Basis Mathematically Unavoidable?
In linear algebra and differential geometry, we always introduce the dual space and the dual basis, defined as linear functionals that extract the components of vectors. But I still do not understand ...
2 votes
6 answers
1k views
Example that the union of an infinite number of closed sets is not necessarily closed.
Example. Let $I_n = [1/n, 1]$, which is clearly closed, and consider $$S=\bigcup_{n=2}^{\infty}I_n=[1/2,1]\cup[1/3,1]\cup[1/4,1]\cdots\tag{1}$$ This is the set $$S=\bigg\{x\bigg\lvert x\in \mathbb{R},\...
12 votes
5 answers
608 views
Non-recursive, explicit rational sequence that converges to $\sqrt{2}$
Is there a non-recursive, explicit sequence of rational numbers that has $\sqrt{2}$ as a limit? I know of rational sequences such as $x_{n+1}=(x_n+2/x_{n})/2$ and $q_n=[10^n\sqrt{2}]/10^n$ that have $\...
15 votes
2 answers
2k views
Is this formula for cosine correct? (And is it significant) [closed]
I have recently found this formula for cosine that seems to work, yet I am unable to prove that it works. The formula in question is $$\lim _{n\rightarrow \infty }\sum _{k=0}^{2n}\sum _{j=0}^{k}( -1)^{...
15 votes
2 answers
2k views
Is the transfer principle useless?
In this MathOverflow thread, a comment states: Any proof using a transfer principle can be rewritten without it, so in some sense it can't play an “essential” role in a proof. Is there a known ...
13 votes
4 answers
2k views
A very weird integral equation
I tried to come up with an integral equation for fun, and made this creature:$\def\d{\mathrm d}$ $$ f(x)-\int_x^{2x}f(t)\,\d t=0, $$ so I followed these steps: $$ \begin{aligned} &f(x)+\int_x^{2x}...
23 votes
1 answer
2k views
Continuous extensions of GCD to $\Bbb R^{+}\!\!\times \Bbb R^{+}\!$ still commutative and distributive
Question. Is there an extension of the GCD function? Since the concept of divisibility breaks down in $\mathbb{R}$, is there an established analytic interpretation of $\gcd(m, n)$ for non-integer ...
7 votes
5 answers
503 views
Prove $\int_0^af(x)\mathrm dx\ge a\int_0^1f(x)\mathrm dx$ for decreasing function
Let $f$ be a decreasing function on $[0,1]$ and $a\in(0,1)$. Prove that $$\int_0^af(x)\mathrm dx\ge a\int_0^1f(x)\mathrm dx.$$ This would be quite obvious if $f$ were continuous. But for non-...
17 votes
3 answers
1k views
Can four points in a unit square have mutual distances all larger than 1?
Question: 4 points are given inside or on the boundary of a unit square. I have a conjecture that there must be 2 points at a distance $\leq 1$. Progress: I’ve found that this question is a corollary ...