tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem)

federico poloni comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (22779)

federico poloni — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 11:08:48 -0700

In case anyone still looks at this thread, an example from a sibling site: there are a couple of answers by Peter Shor on Shor's algorithm on cstheory.se.

Steve Huntsman comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (21604)

Steve Huntsman — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 06:37:52 -0700

Robert Bryant answered "Qustions on R.Bryant’s papaer 'Calibrated embeddings in the special Lagrangian and coassociative cases'": http://mathoverflow.net/questions/124943/

Will Jagy comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (21345)

Will Jagy — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:39:27 -0800

I saw that, it made no impression on me without the Joel David in front.

Asaf Karagila comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (21343)

Asaf Karagila — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:53:25 -0800

Hamkins, on Hamkins infinite time Turing machines:

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/121152/can-a-hamkins-infinite-time-turing-machine-with-infinite-super-turing-jumps-from

Timothy Chow comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (21087)

Timothy Chow — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 07:37:51 -0800

Regarding Tom Leinster's comment, I'm reminded of a paragraph from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. Speaking of Feynman,

Bohr said to his son, "Remember the name of that little fellow in the back over there? He's the only guy who's not afraid of me, and will say when I've got a crazy idea. So next time when we want to discuss ideas, we're not going to be able to do it with these guys who say everything is yes, yes, Dr. Bohr. Get that guy and we'll talk with him first."

Joel Reyes Noche comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (19717)

Joel Reyes Noche — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:44:26 -0700

Does this count? http://mathoverflow.net/questions/104750/about-a-letter-by-richard-palais-of-1965/104781#104781

gilkalai comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16757)

gilkalai — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 09:52:40 -0700

Well, this thread is already a sort of a cute and harmless tradition. Probably "meta" discussions about this thread belong to yet another thread. There is also a sort of a "self referential" or "second order" example which is Peter Shor's mentioning here answers by Tao and Knutson to his question.

Will Jagy comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16756)

Will Jagy — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 09:27:55 -0700

On the other hand, MO is not the real world. Bill Thurston managed to ask a question here, something about how mathematicians think when solving problems. It stayed open, partly because he pointed out that nobody can give him a straight answer in person.

QUOTE FROM COMMENT:
@Felipe Voloch. Yes, I too realized that I could get away with more than most people. But that also means that mathematicians sometimes say less of what's on their mind to me than they might to someone less intimidating to them. The phenomenon of the complicated mental picture is exactly what I'm asking about. I can't expect you to convey the picture except in general terms, but just to talk more of its role in your mind, so why don't you write an actual "answer". @Cam McLeman: that's exactly what I'm asking for. Why not turn it into a full answer? – Bill Thurston Sep 14 2010

The question was http://mathoverflow.net/questions/38639/thinking-and-explaining

Or, as in "I'm sure that if X were on MO, the last thing he'd want is for people to make a fuss about it," the fuss on MO dies down more quickly than it does, say, at conferences, partly because of the larger number of distinct "contacts" in a fixed time period.

Todd Trimble comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16755)

Todd Trimble — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 09:21:47 -0700

Wow, never thought about that, Tom! Good one.

Rota wrote somewhere that when an illustrious mathematician reaches a certain age, he is no longer treated as a person, but as an institution. (I take it he is speaking from direct experience!) Some people have an easier time adapting to that than others.

quid comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16754)

quid — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:42:14 -0700

+1 to Tom Leinster.

Tom Leinster comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16753)

Tom Leinster — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:06:53 -0700

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but something about this thread makes me a bit uncomfortable. I find it hard to put into words, but it's something to do with the idea that a piece of mathematics might belong to someone, and it's something to do with the concept of celebrity.

Of course, I'd be pretty excited if I asked a question about Serre's work and Serre turned up to answer it. And I appreciate that it's wise for MO to keep track of success stories, because maybe in future it's going to have to apply for funding. And the original Green-Tao thing was funny. But... well, here's a story. A friend of mine is at the same institution as a very famous mathematician, who I'll call X. My friend tells me that X has very mixed feelings about his fame, because it means that people are too scared to talk to him. He just wants to interact like an ordinary mathematician, bounce ideas around, have conversations in a relaxed manner, but this doesn't happen because people know who he is and therefore don't act naturally.

From what my friend says, I'm sure that if X were on MO, the last thing he'd want is for people to make a fuss about it. There's zero chance that they wouldn't, which I think is a shame. In X's case, and I'm sure in the case of many other mathematicians of a shy-ish nature, the right thing to do would be to treat him just like anyone else.

Joseph O'Rourke comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16741)

Joseph O'Rourke — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:03:20 -0700

Bill Johnson on the Johnson-Lindenstrauss Lemma: minimum space dimension to place n-points knowing pairwise distances.

Guillaume Brunerie comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16688)

Guillaume Brunerie — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:19:11 -0700

This one is pretty good too: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/24594/survey-articles-on-homotopy-groups-of-spheres

David Speyer comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16271)

David Speyer — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:21:22 -0700

One of the more amusing ones -- Noam Elkies on the subject of whether or not Elkies was a musician before he was a mathematician.

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/76580/famous-mathematicians-with-background-in-arts-humanities-law-etc/76584#76584

theojf comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (16065)

theojf — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:27:30 -0700

Jim Humphreys' very interesting answer is not the accepted answer to Motivating the Casimir element, which is more-or-less a complaint about Humphreys' proof of Weyl's complete reducibility theorem.

Zev Chonoles comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (15985)

Zev Chonoles — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:36:24 -0700

Jacob Lurie and

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/74642/if-i-want-to-study-jacob-luries-books-higher-topoi-theory-derived-ag-what

WillieWong comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (15810)

WillieWong — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:12:45 -0700

@David: in regards to the question and the answer, you can extend that to "Mnev on Mnev, citing Mnev, who cites Mnev, and Mnev, and Vakil, and Lombardi-Mnev-Roy, and others," ... which probably is "for the win" =p (I hope no one is offended!)

David Speyer comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (15806)

David Speyer — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:42:55 -0700

Continuing in this vein, Mnev on Mnev, citing Mnev.

Will Jagy comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (15302)

Will Jagy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:56:59 -0700

J. Silverman and

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/71630/distance-functions-on-elliptic-curves-over-number-fields

David White comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (14846)

David White — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:38:54 -0700

Well, there's been no action here in awhile, but it seems we have another case in the same flavor, in this case with an appearance of Professor Cisinski...

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/67957/is-the-simplicial-completion-of-a-localizer-always-a-bousfield-localization-of-the-injective-model-structure

E.S comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (12138)

E.S — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:36:08 -0800

Yesterday night I spent reading over a guest professor's paper which was to be presented by him today. I had some difficulties understanding some formulas in the paper. However, today after seeing it lectured on by the author himself, I felt the true happiness people who evidenced such bliss here felt. Two observations: (1) Researching math with primary sources makes the math tractable and understandable. (2) Having an idea and explaining it to others in black and white can be really hard. As I saw today, all the details mentioned in the seminar could have well made it to the paper, only that it will make it a "tome" or "a paper for beginners".

Tim van Beek comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (12119)

Tim van Beek — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:14:08 -0800

@ Alex Bartel: I'm sure Margaret Atwood refers to the experience that people who write fascinating novels are often not very fascinating dialog partners (people who excel at both usually end up at the theater or at the movies). This statement is somewhat out of place in mathematics IMHO.

Wadim Zudilin comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (12118)

Wadim Zudilin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:00:58 -0800

I like duck paté although I am not enthusiatic at meeting the source; I would meet the chef (= the author) rather than the duck. The meta is about "getting truth at first hand". "Meeting on Mathoverflow" is something very special, and seems to have nothing to do with what people usually understand as "meeting". Most of MOtizens are anonyms (which make me thinking about those poor no-name ducks again).

Alex Bartel comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (12114)

Alex Bartel — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:23:16 -0800

Margaret Atwood obviously fell victim to the confusion over words that can have multiple meanings, thinking that the word "like" in "to like an author's work" means the same as in "to like duck paté". On the other hand, maybe that is indeed how she perused literary works - by devouring them. In that case, I agree that the quoted observation is accurate, since it would only make sense if she liked the author rather than just his work.

E.S comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (12113)

E.S — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:52:39 -0800

@ Mariano, I can't help posting this quotation though I do not agree at times with it.

Wanting to meet an author because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like paté. -Margaret Atwood, novelist and poet (b. 1939)

Qiaochu Yuan comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (12021)

Qiaochu Yuan — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:05:42 -0800

Also: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/17205/computing-on-a-computer-higher-ramification-groups-and-or-conductors-of-represe/49689#49689

Ben Webster comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (12016)

Ben Webster — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 11:08:46 -0800

Another example here: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/13112/

Mariano comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9570)

Mariano — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:10:47 -0700

Just as sure that you are Qiaochu Yuan!

Qiaochu Yuan comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9569)

Qiaochu Yuan — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:07:22 -0700

Are we sure that's actually John McKay?

Mariano comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9568)

Mariano — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 06:44:49 -0700

John Mackay asking «What do we mean by 'sporadic' ?»: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2427/why-are-there-only-a-finite-number-of-sporadic-simple-groups/6771#6771 :)

Hailong Dao comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9424)

Hailong Dao — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:47:05 -0700

@Yemon, Willie: amazing! It is actually quite scary to think of who are lurking on MO!

peterwshor comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9423)

peterwshor — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:40:28 -0700

My question about generalizations of a Knutson-Tao theorem got two different answers from Knutson and Tao: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/31475/singular-values-of-matrix-sums

WillieWong comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9418)

WillieWong — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:43:53 -0700

@Yemon: it was so much more awesome due to F.Voloch's comment.

Mariano comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9417)

Mariano — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:17:14 -0700

@Elohemahab Solomon, I think what does it is seeing that names one reads on book covers correspond to actual humans.

Yemon Choi comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9416)

Yemon Choi — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:10:55 -0700

John Tate enters the fray...

E.S comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9408)

E.S — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:40:51 -0700

Many seem to be gratified to see "OP-meet-the-real-guy-of-the-question."

Cam McLeman comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9389)

Cam McLeman — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 07:18:45 -0700

Similar flavor:

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/6696/completion-of-modules-of-differentials-a-strange-exercise-in-lius-ag-textbook

Qiaochu Yuan comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9388)

Qiaochu Yuan — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:09:32 -0700

Here is, I think, another example:

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/16074/how-is-the-physical-meaning-of-an-irreducible-representation-justified/16156#16156

Paul Siegel comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (9384)

Paul Siegel — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:48:44 -0700

Here is one of my favorites:

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/37963/lecture-notes-by-thurston-on-tiling/37973#37973

WillieWong comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7633)

WillieWong — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:31:38 -0700

Here's another recent example from Dick Palais, though I guess he didn't really so much endorse the answer.

Harry Gindi comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7160)

Harry Gindi — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:48:06 -0700

So now we just need to get Perelman and Wiles >=)

Then we're set =p.

José Figueroa comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7159)

José Figueroa — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:45:03 -0700

I used the term 'gallery' figuratively, but I did keep a screenshot. So if a gallery is forthcoming, I'd gladly contribute it :)

Qiaochu Yuan comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7158)

Qiaochu Yuan — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:59:18 -0700

Do we actually have a gallery? That would be kind of nice.

Steve Huntsman comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7157)

Steve Huntsman — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:23:17 -0700

This shark jumping moment of Jonas' brings a smile to my face: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/23989/are-the-norms-of-graphs-dense-in-any-interval/23993#23993

Yemon Choi comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7156)

Yemon Choi — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:47:42 -0700

Heh. How about this one?

José Figueroa comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7155)

José Figueroa — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:08:45 -0700

+1. That's one screenshot for the gallery!

Jonas Meyer comments on "Green-Tao endorsed answer on Green-Tao theorem" (7154)

Jonas Meyer — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:33:02 -0700

There are probably some people who haven't seen this, and who may enjoy it as much as I do:

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/25402/is-the-green-tao-theorem-true-for-primes-within-a-given-arithmetic-progression/25403#25403

I'm just posting this to make it more well known. I'd be interested if anyone would like to comment with links to similar posts.