probabilistic number theory

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by wildrabbitt

I make a point to be polite to my tutors when I email them. Why do you make a point?

Don't take this personally. Mr. Silverman is very skilled at mathematics, and very unskilled at interpersonal relations.

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Don't take this personally. Mr. Silverman is very skilled at mathematics, and very unskilled at interpersonal relations.

Unfortunately, the subject here is the study of mathematics and what one needs to do before
attempting to prove a problem that no one else knows how to solve.

The truth is often painful. All I have said in this thread that it is arrogant to claim an attempt
to solve a problem without having studied it. I have also suggested that that OP's knowledge
of basic level mathematics is deficient. It is sufficiently deficient that what he is doing is a
clear case of trying to run before he knows how to walk.

See the youtube presentation on Why do you Want a PhD in Mathematics.
It is spot on.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

It is spot on.

Do you have a PhD Mr. Silverman?

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Do you have a PhD Mr. Silverman?

You already know the answer. I have answered it repeatedly.
I can only assume you ask it as a taunt.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

I can only assume you ask it as a taunt.

Actually, I ask it to show that people can be productive without having letters after their name.

To put on the table (as I've said before) I don't even have a Bachelors.

I have managed people with PhDs who couldn't produce as much as those who dropped out of high school because they were bored....

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Actually, I ask it to show that people can be productive without having letters after their name.

I left grad school for non-academic reasons before I finished my dissertation. I wrote up
those parts of it that I had finished as a master's level thesis. I had already passed my quals.

To put on the table (as I've said before) I don't even have a Bachelors.

I have managed people with PhDs who couldn't produce as much as those who dropped out of high school because they were bored....

Not in mathematics..... or physics. or biophysics. or biochem, or .....

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

Not in mathematics..... or physics. or biophysics. or biochem, or .....

One in Mathematics, three in Literature (yeah, I know...) and two in Biochem.

There is a big difference between "Book Smart" and "Street Smart".

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Actually, I ask it to show that people can be productive without having letters after their name.

To put on the table (as I've said before) I don't even have a Bachelors.

I have managed people with PhDs who couldn't produce as much as those who dropped out of high school because they were bored....

The OP came here stating that he had spent a long time (emphasis his!) on trying to prove
a conjecture in post-graduate mathematics that no one knows how to solve. It was clear
from his query that he really didn't understand the nature of the problem, nor had he bothered
to read what had been tried before. He didn't even seem to know the connections between the
problem and Ergodic and Tauberien theory.

I have heard the claim "I don't need to know what's been done before. Such knowledge only
gets in the way of creativity". This is a nonsensical claim in math.
... and gets points on the crankometer.......

Instead of wasting time trying to prove something that no one knows how to do, he would have
been much more PRODUCTIVE (emphasis mine since you brought up productivity as an issue)
by proving something that is known, or something that can be proven by a simple extension
of what is known. He should have read the Green-Tao paper IN DETAIL until he understood it
and the background math behind it.

As has been said, progress in math is made by standing on the shoulders of giants.
One does NOT make progress on unsolved problems by standing on the void.

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

One in Mathematics, three in Literature (yeah, I know...) and two in Biochem.

There is a big difference between "Book Smart" and "Street Smart".

A vague and meaningless generality and aphorism.

Dream on......

One does not solve unsolved problems in math or physis with just "street smarts".

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

One does not solve unsolved problems in math or physis [sic] with just "street smarts".

I don't entirely disagree. I think we're talking about different end goals here.

When hiring someone to do the work I want them to do, I tend to ignore the letters after their name (unless it's a MCSE, in which case I drop them down in the rankings). In fact, I test the candidates to see if they can do what they claim to be able to do.

I have had MSc's unable to log into a Linux server, even though this was explicitly detailed as a job requirement. One went as far as to call me to claim that he should have gotten the job "because I have a Masters!

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

I don't entirely disagree. I think we're talking about different end goals here.

When hiring someone to do the work I want them to do, I tend to ignore the letters after their name (unless it's a MCSE, in which case I drop them down in the rankings). In fact, I test the candidates to see if they can do what they claim to be able to do.

I have had MSc's unable to log into a Linux server, even though this was explicitly detailed as a job requirement. One went as far as to call me to claim that he should have gotten the job "because I have a Masters!

Agreed.

I once interviewed a job candidate with a BA in comp. sci. from Penn. His resume presented
what seemed to be a strong math background (even by my standards) including a course
in modern algebra. When I started asking him about how he would approach a couple of
problems it transpired that he did not know what a finite field was, despite a claim A in the course.....

[Note: this was for a research position in algorithms]