Ask a Mathematician

[polymath257]

I am in my 60s.  Can I safely assume that Algebra will always make me cry?

Math is like a language. Algebra is like learning the basic vocabulary. Good literature is a ways down the line.

But maybe you could cry from joy.

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Can constipated mathematicians really work it out with a pencil?

*cough* Slide Rule *cough*

I'm old enough that when I was in the Navy we still used slide rules.

I taught myself how to use a slide rule. When I went to college, I was one of the last to have one. I still have it (and know how to use it).

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I've been a research mathematician for the last 35 years. Any questions?

What does a mathematician typically research? Asking for an engineer friend. 

I've done a number of areas, from harmonic analysis (using generalizations of square waves to represent functions), to non-linear versions of integration, to some research on algebraic numbers and how they can be represented.

Once you get past differential equations, math is primarily oriented towards proofs rather than calculations (which are more the applied aspect).

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I've been a research mathematician for the last 35 years. Any questions?

In all your years of research, have you ever actually found a mathematician?

Some do it just for the job, but most actually have a passion for the subject, at least at first.