What's the most interesting thing you have learned this year in maths?

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Reply 60

Pentaquark

definitely dimensional analysis too! :smile:

such a powerful tool

Reply 61

Imperion

Original post by Aph

Eigenvalues and eigenvectors are probably my favourite thing about this year. Although stuff like defining

e^{i\theta}=cos(\theta)+ i sin(\theta)

was also pretty interesting. Even if my exam board does use j and not i :erm:

what exam board is this?

Reply 62

Aph

Original post by Imperion

what exam board is this?

OCR MEI

Reply 63

math42

Original post by Imperion

what exam board is this?

Probs OCR MEI, they do this and I dunno anyone else who does
edit: ninja'd, I didn't expect them to reply so fast lol

Reply 64

Retired_Messiah

Original post by physicsmaths

Haha the struggle is real.
I always do 8x8 then take away 8.
I know, me is proper smart.

You've made me realise I can't quite do 8x8 either.

Great.

Reply 65

Madgiddypig

So it's not exactly interesting, more a joke a Maths teacher told me once.

sin x
n = 6

It's so bad it's good xD took me a while at first hehe

Reply 66

math42

Original post by Madgiddypig

So it's not exactly interesting, more a joke a Maths teacher told me once.

sin x
n = 6

It's so bad it's good xD took me a while at first hehe

your formatting confused me

I presume you mean

\frac{\sin x}{n} = 6

Reply 67

1420787

Original post by Pentaquark

definitely dimensional analysis too! :smile:

such a powerful tool

https://what-if.xkcd.com/11/

Reply 68

Madgiddypig

Original post by 1 8 13 20 42

your formatting confused me

I presume you mean

\frac{\sin x}{n} = 6

Haha yes, but I'm not very skilled when it comes to typing xD

Reply 69

hellomynameisr

M2 was pretty good because its when physics actually started to make sense lol

Reply 70

maryamk97

integration using a trigonometric substitution and everything complex numbers related :smile:

Reply 71

drandy76

Tbf, drawing massive circles in Gel pens was a really enjoyable experience this year, only part of mechanics I liked

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Reply 72

drandy76

How else would you find the age, Conduct an experiment? Science merely feeds from the scraps of Maths plate

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Reply 73

Protoxylic

Operator methods for solving differential equations - simple yet so elegant - avoids having to assume solutions for 2nd order.

Reply 74

HelpusPleasus

Original post by drandy76

How else would you find the age, Conduct an experiment? Science merely feeds from the scraps of Maths plate

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yeah, no. It's still based on observation, you just use maths to reach a conclusion. Science explains and uses maths but it isn't being "fed from the scraps of maths"

No I didn't, I don't do maths- we did that in Physics. I took the thread title as topic area instead of subject (perfectly valid), So that was the most interesting maths I did in Physics and hence most interesting thing in maths.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 75

AlesanaWill

Possibly complex integration - particularly using complex integrals to solve difficult real integrals, using the residue theorem, etc.

Reply 76

cliveb2016

I just learnt Sylow's theorem part 1 (wish me luck for parts 2 & 3). That is a really nice piece of mathematics. It took me ages as well cause I had to learn group actions and orbit-stabiliser theorem before I could see how the proof worked.

Reply 77

Kvothe the Arcane

The Wason selection task.

You are shown a set of four cards placed on a table, each of which has a number on one side and a colored patch on the other side. The visible faces of the cards show 3, 8, red and brown. Which card(s) must you turn over in order to test the truth of the proposition that if a card shows an even number on one face, then its opposite face is red?

I initially thought the answer was obvious but it turned out my initial intuitive reasoning was flawed :tongue:

Spoiler

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 78

Aph

Original post by Kvothe the arcane

Solution to the Wason selection task.

You are shown a set of four cards placed on a table, each of which has a number on one side and a colored patch on the other side. The visible faces of the cards show 3, 8, red and brown. Which card(s) must you turn over in order to test the truth of the proposition that if a card shows an even number on one face, then its opposite face is red?

I thought the answer easy and intuitive but it turns out my reasoning was flawed.