Matt Ford
Studying maths at the university of my house, and occasionally writing about it at ergodicbees.wordpress.com
- Very much enjoyed reading this essay by @wtgowers.bsky.social about the "two cultures" of mathematics: problem solvers and theory builders. I didn't particularly enjoy my reading course on graph theory and combinatorics but it was a good problem-solving workout www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~wtg10/2cult...
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View full threadMaths often seems to be promoted via puzzle solving and Olympiads and the like - like something you can compete at, although I always found that extremely off-putting because I hate puzzles for their own sake. The language or theory side would be too difficult to communicate I guess.
- For people learning maths on their own I think Gowers' essay is well worth a read. It offers some insight into the world of professional mathematicians, and it's a reminder to keen an open mind and stay interested.
- I think I found the subjects difficult because they felt less axiomatic (if that's the right word) than subjects I enjoy, like analysis. With analysis it's like there's something to fall back on, or a well-established language. Combinatorics problems made me feel like I was always back at square 1
- A quick wrap-up of my short reading course on #combinatorics, and some (very) simple number theoretic applications. I was expecting this course to be more painful than it was! #MathSky ergodicbees.wordpress.com/2025/04/30/c...
- Wrapping up my reading course on graph theory with a post about matchings and Hall's theorem. #MathSky ergodicbees.wordpress.com/2025/03/30/m...
- Back at it after Christmas and the summer holidays. Graph theory is a totally new subject for me, so I decided to write down a few thoughts ergodicbees.wordpress.com/2025/03/02/t... #MathSky
- Wrapping up 2025 and my complex analysis reading course with a little examination of Möbius Transformations ergodicbees.wordpress.com/2024/12/27/m... #mathsky
- My process too 😂
- Sounds very similar to mine too!
- I did a bit of writing about a complex analysis problem I got stuck on. I have a terrible habit of jumping to conclusions about how to solve things and I wasted a lot of time, but got there in the end :) #MathSky ergodicbees.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/a...
- One of my goals this winter is to spend some time and learn #Lean. This is the text I'll be using which focuses on the programming side, but eventually I want to learn proof-writing. My ultimate goal is to formalize some results in #Physics ⚛️ for fun. #MathSky #Science 🧮🧪
- As an aside, if anybody is interested, I highly recommend the Natural Numbers game which introduced me to formalized proofs using Lean. Anybody with even a little mathematical background can learn a lot about proofs by playing this game. adam.math.hhu.de#/g/leanprove...
- Lean is something I'd like to get up to speed with too. It'll probably be a long term project alongside other things. For a total beginner like me I've found this video series to be just right - it takes a slow and careful approach without assuming any prerequisites www.youtube.com/@LeanFirstSt...
- Just as I was getting started this afternoon. Perhaps I'll just make this account photos of cats sitting on maths books
- I've found that the kindest way to deal with this situation is just to have a box handy nearby
- My blog is about maths I've been studying and enjoying. Writing about it helps me learn and remember stuff. My last post was about contracting maps and fixed points ergodicbees.wordpress.com/2024/10/29/c...
- ... I bet professional mathematicians don't have to work like this
- It's traditional to feature a cat for your first post? Apparently maths books are very comfortable
