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 Paul August__NOTOC__ Projects: WikiProject Mathematics, Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/PlanetMath Exchange, User:Filiocht/List of cultural references in The Divine Comedy, Wikipedia:Forum for Encyclopedic Standards, User:Topbanana/Reports/This_page_contains_a_link_that_might_be_mis-punctuated, Wikipedia:Library, Wikipedia:Status_of_the_porting_of_the_CIA_World_Factbook, Wikipedia:Status of FOLDOC import, Wikipedia:Deadend pages; Mathematics:: List of mathematical topics, List of lists of mathematical topics, List of examples in general topology, Glossary of general topology How to: Help:Contents, Wikipedia:Style_and_How-to_Directory, Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page#The wiki markup, meta:Help:Formula#Special characters, Wikipedia:Utilities, Wikipedia:Picture tutorial, Wikipedia:Extended image syntax, Wikipedia:How to use tables Policies and guidelines: Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia:No original research, Wikipedia:Assume good faith, Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, Wikipedia:Banning policy, Wikipedia:Three revert rule Other: User:Theresa knott/Those who disagree with Angela must not sign their comments, Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by number of edits, /Images, /Sandbox {| cellspacing="3" |- valign="top" |width="50%" style="border: 1px solid #ffc9c9; padding: .5em 1em 1em; color: #000; background-color: #fff3f3"| Personal InfoC.V.Paul August__TOC__ ==Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers to the Wikipedia== Here are some links I thought useful: *Wikipedia:Tutorial *Wikipedia:Help desk *Wikipedia:Policy Library *Wikipedia:Utilities *Wikipedia:Cite your sources *Wikipedia:Verifiability *Wikipedia:Wikiquette *Wikipedia:Civility *Wikipedia:Conflict resolution *Wikipedia:Brilliant prose *Wikipedia:Neutral point of view *Wikipedia:Pages needing attention *Wikipedia:Peer review *Wikipedia:Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense *Wikipedia:Village pump *Wikipedia:Boilerplate text *Wikipedia:IRC channel *Wikipedia:Mailing lists *Wikipedia:Current polls Feel free to ask me anything the links and talk pages don't answer. You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ===Use of infinity in mathematics=== In mathematics, infinity is an unbounded quantity that is greater than every real number. [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Infinity.html] * This definition is wrong, and in particular "unbounded quantity" makes no sense. The substance was retained in the discussion of infinity in real analysis. A distinction is made between different "sizes" of infinity because it can be shown that some infinite sets have greater cardinality than others. Georg Cantor developed a system of transfinite numbers, in which the first transfinite cardinal is aleph-null (), the cardinality of the set of natural numbers. * This was rewritten and retained. ::All of the text in this section was deleted by you on Oct 16th (see: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Infinity&action=history edit history]) leaving this version of the article [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Infinity&oldid=6687618] correct? Your edits on Oct 31st added back this content. My concerns were about edits of Oct 16th. User:Paul August 20:09, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC) The modern mathematical conception of the infinite developed in the late nineteenth century from work by Cantor, Gottlob Frege, Richard Dedekind and others, using the idea of set. Their approach was essentially to adopt the idea of one-to-one correspondence as a standard for comparing the size of sets, and to reject the view of Galileo (which derived from Euclid) that the whole cannot be the same size as the part. An infinite set can simply be defined as one having the same size as at least one of its "proper" parts. * Again, this was not removed, it was edited. ::This was removed on Oct 16th, it was edited and added back on the 31st, correct? (see above) User:Paul August 20:09, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC) Thus Cantor showed that infinite sets can even have different sizes, distinguished between countably infinite and uncountable sets, and developed a theory of cardinal number around this. His view prevailed and modern mathematics accepts actual infinity. Certain extended number systems, such as the surreal numbers, incorporate the ordinary (finite) numbers and infinite numbers of different sizes. * Ditto. Our intuition gained from finite sets breaks down when dealing with infinite sets. One example of this is Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel. * Didn't change a word of this. It is worth mention that the infinite cardinal numbers (relating to set theory) and the infinity commonly encountered in algebra and calculus are two completely different concepts. In algebra and calculus, 2∞ is not technically a number, but taking a limit (mathematics) yields 2∞ = ∞. Real numbers are not used to measure the sizes of sets, so ∞ can be used for any quantity that grows indefinitely at a limit. The corresponding statement in set theory is that 2ℵ0 > ℵ0 because the former term is uncountable, while the latter is countable. Exponents in set theory are ''not'' the same as regular exponents in high school mathematics, the former using cardinals or sizes and the latter using ordinals or amounts, and ∞ is ''not'' the used or treated same as aleph null. * This repeated stuff already discussed, and was removed as redundent. The discussion of exponents in set theory was irrelevant to the topic. ==="bounded" versus "unbounded"=== In mathematics, the term bounded is use to designate a set whose elements in a container of finite size. More formally, the set is said to be bounded if there exists at least one point c (''center'') and a positive real number r (''radius'') such that the set , where is the set that contain all the points than are less or equal to distance r from c, in both directions, contains all the elements of Z; . Z is ''unbounded'' if, for any c and any r, does not include all elements of Z. * This is wandering off the topic; if something like this is to be included, it should be much more concise. This is the mathematical way of answering the riddle, "How long is a piece of string?" by showing that the [imaginary] string has a length shorter than a[n imaginary] string of longer length. * This is just bad. For the above definitions to make sense, we have to have define what we mean by distance, We must define a metric to be in metric space. If it is not, the terms "bounded" and "unbounded" are meaningless. However, the term '"infinity" is meaningful even without a metric. * Again, metric spaces are off-topic. These definitions of bounded and unbounded are the same, regardless of whether point c is part of Z, or whether or not is exactly equal to Z. It can be easily shown that * If a set is finite, it is bounded. * If a set is unbounded, is infinite. However, * If a set is bounded, it is not necessarily finite. For example, a ''segment'' is bounded but has an infinite number of elements. * If a set is infinite, it may not be unbounded. If a set is bounded, we can define a diameter of the set: Where is the distance between z and y in set Z. We take the maximal returned after considering all permutations of z and y. The diameter of a set is always a positive real number or zero, if the set is bounded. It can be zero if and only if the set is empty or has only one member. If the set Y is ''unbounded'', we can write but it must be understood that this is only a convention for stating that Y is unbounded. It does not literally mean that the diameter is infinite. * This isn't a very good discussion, but the main thing wrong with it is that it is off-topic. ===Calculus and mathematical analysis=== A very common use of infinity is in calculus and mathematical analysis, for example: * * * * The article isn't about freshman calculus, even if that is where a lot of this discussion seems to be coming from. This is included to the extent it needs to be in the real analysis stuff. Infinity is not part of the set of real numbers; and cannot be used in places where a real number can normally be used. For example, is true, but is undefined. Over the mathematical explanation and by logic, arithmetic operations, those based on counting, are undefined for infinity within arithmetic mathematics for expression and solution. But within logic the statement is also true; however, infinity not being bound produces indeterminate solutions wherein a 0 or any other solution may be ''or'' already is true if the expression ''is'' defined, which is an arbitrary task. This explanation is absent from any maths level treatise of infinity. * This could be worked up into a discussion of the arithmetic of infinity used as a symbol for a limit, but as it is it isn't up to snuff, and is misleading at best. There are only few cases when you can consider ∞ as a regular number. In these unusual cases, you are in the so-called extended real number field, denoted by * Good link, but needs editing. "Regular number"? In limit analysis, we can make statements which include the theoretical case that we almost put infinity in the place of a real number, for example . This states that as x continues to grow in magnitude (tends towards infinity), 1/x becomes closer and closer to zero (tends toward zero). The limit case, is undefined; however if x was the largest finite value known to us, 1/x would be the closest finite value to zero known to us. Here, "undefined" means that the solution is not in the set of real numbers; this only repeats the axiom that infinity is not a number. * Is a discussion of limits carried on to this extent relevant to the topic? It's not "limits", its "infinity". Limits do not literally consider the case of x=∞ If the definition did include ∞, the properties of the definition change, and some properties that were valid before may no longer be valid. For example, when you extend the definition of integrals, you get improper integrals. Without fully understanding this and correctly assessing the consequences of using infinity in place of a real number, error and paradox may occur. For an example, see the explanation of Cauchy distribution#Why the mean of the Cauchy distribution is undefined. It is important to note that not all limits, series and integrals are convergence. In the usual ordered real number field, it is common to distinguish between +∞ and -∞. * Ditto.Can't you see that, even if some of the above is less than perfect (which I think it clearly is;-) removing such a ''large'' amount of content ''without discussion'' might upset the many editors who may have collaborated in writing it? * Good point, but this got dumped in after I made my edits, and without regard to them, and ''I'' did not create that mess. Why was my edit allowed to be butchered, but I am under an obligation to deal with a lot of stuff, much of it irrelevant or badly written or even wrong? All of this greatly expanded the size of the article but didn't really add much that was relevant and correct. ::Perhaps I've made a wrong assumption. Looking at the edit history, I've assumed that your first edit to this article occurred on Oct16. Is that correct? If so then this did not get "dumped in after" you made your edits. This content was present in the article well before Oct 16th. Did you perhaps make edits before the 16th under a different user name? User:Paul August 20:28, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC) As I said above, in my opinion (an opinion shared by many other editors) if content has any value at all, it is better to try to ''fix'' or ''move'' it rather than delete it. * And this was not done with my edit. :: you know what they say about two wrongs not making a right ;-) User:Paul August 20:28, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC) Are you really saying that all of the above is "simply wrong", has no "value", makes no "sense" and that you regard it as "garbage"? * Sorting out the good and bad would be a bit of a problem. Easier would be to try to add more on the same topic but more concisely and correctly, but I am not sure that addresses your concerns. I am pleased to see that in your recent edits you have reincorporated some of the deleted content above, often improving on what was there before. Perhaps other deleted content might also be profitably reincorporated? I would be happy to be specific if you are interested in discussing this any further ;-) I would like to help in any way I could ;-) * I'm trying. Some of the comments about the history of set theory were wrong as stated, so I created an article Dedekind infinite, and then restored a corrected version. I've been adding in other stuff also. :You should, however, consider that you played your own role in this debacle; despite recognizing the value of my edits, you allowed them to be reverted, and then futher editing work took place on this reverted version. This was obviously the wrong plan, and that it lead to problems was predictable. I think it would be helpful in the future not to allow such things to happen. User:Gene Ward Smith 21:03, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC) Also if you wish to construe what lysdexia did as vandalism fine, but then don't you see that, by the same token, what you did above might also be construed in the same way? I was just trying to convince you that, just like it is unhelpful for lysdexia to use the word "stupid" the use of "vandalism" might also be unconstructive. (see Wikipedia:Vandalism for what most wikipedians mean by that term, you might also want to look at Wikipedia:Wikilove) I'm not trying to defend lysdexia, some of his actions and remarks (IMHO) have been less than than polite. But if you are simply trying to get back at lysdexia, by "responding in kind" please notice that calling his edits "vandalism" and "garbage", can be seen to tar with the same brush, the five dozen or so ''other'' editors who have worked on this article, like me ;-) Was that your intention? User:Paul August 17:10, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC) ==Re: Set theory format changes? == :OK, I changed ''A''′ to ''A''C in the image as well. The reasons why I started changing to ''A''C are these: ::To make Wikipedia's notation for set complement uniform: ''A''C was used in the article for De Morgan's Laws. ::''A''′ should be reserved for Boolean complement, ::''A''C for set complement. :: The ''A''C notation has been adopted by PlanetMath ([http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/NotationInSetTheory.html]). :: The ''A''C notation is also used at the University of Cambridge (e.g. [http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/~DNC25/] hosted by Churchill College). :: The ''A''C notation is more unique: the meaning of ''A''′ is already overloaded: e.g. ''A''′ as derivative of ''A''. :: ''A''C is more visible; it looks better on the page. : By the way, there appear to be five different ways of denoting the complement of set ''A'': (1) ''A''′, (2) , (3) ''A''C, (4) ~''A'', (5) comp(''A''). ''A''′ is probably the most frequent one, so if you want to change from ''A''C back to ''A''′, I would not oppose it. >>Why are you changing "''A'' ∩ ''B''" to "''A'' ∩''B''", this looks better to you? << :: This way the ∩ appears centered between the ''A'' and the ''B'' (at least on my browser). Which brings me to my question: the character for ∅ shows up as an empty square on my browser, not as an empty set character Ø. Does ∅ appear correctly on your browser and what did you do (if anything) to make it appear correctly? --User:AugPi 22:57, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC) :::For all the browsers I use (Safari, IE, Omniweb, Forefox) the former looks centered, the latter does not. Also the using former which uses "non-breaking spaces" means that "''A'' ∩ ''B''" will always appear on the same line, that is it won't break across two lines. Also both empty set symbols show up correctly for me in all browsers, you might try changing your Wikipedia "math rendering preference" User:Paul August 23:33, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC) ==Red-link recovery== Howdy and many thanks for your work on that User:Topbanana/Reports/This page contains a link that might be mis-punctuated. The list's pretty much completed now - I'll be generating a new version of it in due course, taking all the lessons learned from the last one into account. In the meantime, if you enjoyed working through the list (or at least found it a worthwhile distraction), you may want to have a look at the similar User:Topbanana/Reports/This page contains a red link that may be due to a plural discrepancy which highlights red-links that might be red because they (or the article they are aiming for) are improperly pluralised. Again, thanks for your efforts - award yourself a :Image:WikiMedal_for_Janitorial_Services.png if you haven't already got one! - User:Topbanana 11:28, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC) == Economy of Ireland == I've tried to address your comments on WP:FAC - note the articles title has been changed to Economy of the Republic of Ireland. User:CGorman 22:57, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC) ---- ''I think you are doing excellent work on Economy of Republic of Ireland. Hope my comments haven't been bugging you ;-) FAC can be a grueling process ;-) I just went through the "gauntlet" myself recently on Attalus I. Paul August 19:49, Nov 11, 2004 (UTC)'' I went through with Celtic Tiger earlier in the month - they picked on everything! - even my cute little tiger image! Anyways I suppose the criticism will benifit wikipedia in the long run. As for the time changeable nature of the article - I don't see any way around it, all those figures are relevent and necessary to fully describe an economy. Thanks for your ''constructive criticism''. User:CGorman 19:58, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC) ''I agree that the article has to have this time dependent content in it. I'm just concerned about the problems inherent in this, and in ways to ameliorate it, Did you look at Avoid statements that will date quickly? It contains some suggestions for this problem. Also some of the words phrase which contain words like "now" and "recently" and "past decade" could be dated? Anyway I'm not objecting to this article on this (or any) basis. I think it's great! My only concern is to make the article as good as it can be ;-) By the way did you see my comment about the newer intro in the CIA factbook? Paul August 20:26, Nov 11, 2004 (UTC)'' Yes I read ''Avoid statements that will date quickly'' and saw your comment about the ''newer intro in the CIA factbook'', i'll try and act on this soon. User:CGorman 20:30, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC) == LNS == hey there paul i think it would be great if you could edit the intro back to what it was i just don't have the time now i gotta run pretty quick here--User:Larsie 03:51, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC) ==Re: "Topological space" edit== Thanks for the heads-up about open-ended formulae - I've innocently made the same mistake in Stochastic process and Topologist's sine curve while trying to help out on the Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wiki_Syntax, so will revert them myself. Cheers & Sorry, User:Danog 19:22, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC) ==GNAA Popeye== Hi Paul. After receiving no answer from Silsor and being quite rudely ignored by Arminius about the permanent blocking of GNAA Popeye, I have eventually written this Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Silsor. I hope Silsor will not consider this a personal attack, but it seems like the only way to get the questions answered. Since your questions to Silsor were unanswered as well, I was wondering whether you would consider certifying the RFC? Of course I would understand if you preferred not to be involved, or if you did not feel that strongly about the issue. Thanks. User:Sam Hocevar 03:16, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC) :Hi Sam. I'm not sure yet exactly what involvement I want to have in all this. I do think the issue of possible abuse of administrator blocking powers is an important and serious matter, as well as a possible attempt to stifle unpopular speech. It's also quite easy for me to imagine that GNAA Popeye might have done things which would warrant an indefinite block. I've asked Silsor on his talk page to please explain to me the reasons and grounds for the block. We'll see where that leads. Regards, User:Paul August 05:40, Nov 14, 2004 (UTC) ::Thanks Paul, Silsor has now answered on the RFC page and I have good hopes that he will answer the real questions. Regards, User:Sam Hocevar 14:00, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC) ::Well, unfortunately I have to withdraw that. Quoting him: ''I don't feel I need to defend myself any further, as this RFC will be deleted in about 24 hours.'' User:Sam Hocevar 13:34, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC) == LNS == hey there paul i believe it was to be definitive, sorry about the late response. --User:Larsie 17:52, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC) == Clearing the air == Hi Paul, Sorry for not responding for so long, I have been trying to give User:Sam Hocevar enough rope to hang himself which not being too bright he proceeded to do. You can read about it at User:Silsor/Sam Hocevar. Popeye and Sam worked together on the RFC and hoped to use you as their dupe in the RFC process, which was a troll attempt. If you have any questions that aren't answered there I'll be happy to answer them without delay. User:Silsor 22:37, Nov 18, 2004 (UTC) :I don't remember calling you names, Silsor. If I did, give me a chance to apologise. If I did not, please don't call me "not too bright", it serves no purpose, especially on a public place I'm not supposed to actively follow. Despite your behaviour, I honestly think I have always been of the most absolute courtesy to you. Also, before accusing me of deceiving Paul, which I consider an insult to both of us, please read how I asked Paul to certify the RFC. It is still present two sections above. I presented the facts. I carefully left every possible way for Paul to kindly decline my request, without forcing him to anything. I think it was the most polite way to do it. See how optimistic I was to see you answer. See how I assumed that '''Paul's certifying was no longer needed since you had decided to answer beforehand'''. And stop accusing me of working with Popeye on the RFC, I thought and wrote every single line of it. The only communication relevant to this issue that I had with Popeye before that was asking him whether his account was still blocked. I honestly don't think he even knew what the RFC process was before I gave him the link to the one I wrote, and it was not a troll, until you decided to troll yourself into evading the questions again and again. User:Sam Hocevar 02:12, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC) == no original research == thanks for the suggestion, and the encouragement! User:Slrubenstein 22:12, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC) == request == Would you look at the recent history of "Postmodernity" and the discussion and comment?[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Postmodernity&action=history] Thanks, User:Slrubenstein 23:03, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC) ==The Humungous Image Tagging Project== Hi. You've helped with the Wikipedia:WikiProject Wiki Syntax, so I thought it worth alerting you to the latest and greatest of Wikipedia fixing project, User:Yann/Untagged Images, which is seeking to put copyright tags on all of the untagged images. There are probably, oh, thirty thousand or so to do (he said, reaching into the air for a large figure). But hey: they're images ... you'll get to see lots of random pretty pictures. That must be better than looking for ''at at'' and ''the the'', non? You know you'll love it. best wishes --User:Tagishsimon User_talk:Tagishsimon == Village Pump archives format change == ''Hi JessW, I wanted to let you know that I've changed (for the better I hope) the format of the Village Pump archives slightly. I hope you don't mind ;-) User:Paul August 15:06, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)'' ''By the way, I forgot to mention, what a good job you've been doing there ;-) User:Paul August 15:08, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)'' :Looks great. Took me a sec to figure it out, as I put the listings at the bottom so they would be easier to find, but actually, your way makes the ToC clearer and is generally better. Good job. User:JesseW 19:46, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC) Thanks, glad you like it. User:Paul August 19:54, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC) == Article Licensing == Hi, I've User:rambot#Free the Rambot Articles project to get users to Wikipedia:Multi-licensing all of their contributions that they've made to either (1) all U.S. state, county, and city articles or (2) all articles, using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (''CC-by-sa'') v1.0 and v2.0 Creative Commons Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The ''CC-by-sa'' license is a true free documentation license that is similar to Wikipedia's license, the GFDL, but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles. Since you are among the Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_number_of_edits Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at ''minimum'' those on the geographic articles. Over 90% of people asked have agreed. For More Information: *User talk:Ram-Man#Multi-Licensing FAQ - Lots of questions answered *Wikipedia:Multi-licensing *User:rambot#Free the Rambot Articles project To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the " ∅ displays as an empty box (“∅”), whilst displays as the empty set (“”).
You're probably lucky and both display the same.
--User:Phil Boswell | User talk:Phil Boswell 09:18, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
:Thanks for the reply. Will this work for everyone using IE on windows? Or are there still font issues? I would dearly like to get rid of the ugly "{}" notation used in some places on WP, see: empty set and talk:empty set#The empty set symbol. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 19:25, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)
== Homoians and Arians ==
Hi there Paul -- I posted a long-ish response to your query over at Talk:Theodosius_I#Arians_vs._Homoians. --User:Jfruh 21:46, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
:Hi Jfruh: Thanks for responding to my questions on Talk:Theodosius_I#Arians_vs._Homoians. I've finnally replied there — with more questions I'm afraid ;-) User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 23:15, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC)
Hi Paul -- Saw your quite cogent questions and have been thinking of the best way to respond and/or make the article better. Unfortunately I'm under a big pile of real-world work at the moment. Should be able to respond at length in the next few days. Very briefly: The two refernces to "Arians" in the article that you note were originally "Homoians" but changed by the anonymous editor; and the Homoiousions did share aspects of the Arian theology that you cite, with the important difference that they did not view Jesus as "created" or "inferior" as the Arians did. The "homoi" construction was an attempt to avoid the homoousion-homoiousion debate altogether. I've been trying to formulate a new version of the article that is accurate on these subjects without getting into needless depth. More to come! --User:Jfruh 01:20, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Hi Paul -- Finally got around to updating Theodosius I, and Arianism to boot. I decided to leave out the "homoian" name, since it's strictly speaking an invention of modern historians. Let me know what you thnk. --User:Jfruh 06:30, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:Hi Jfruh, I had just finished reading your update to Theodosius_I, when I got your message ;-) On first pass you seem to have delt with the issues rather well I think. But I want to think about them some more, and also read the Arianism article, before I comment any more. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 06:43, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
== New Mathematics Wikiportal ==
I noticed you've done some work on Mathematics articles. I wanted to point out to you the new Wikipedia:Wikiportal/Mathematics- more specifically, to the Wikipedia:Mathematics Collaboration of the Week page. I'm looking for any math-related stubs or non-existant articles that you would like to see on Wikipedia. Additionally, I wondered if you'd be willing to help out on some of the Collaboration of the Week pages.
I encourage you to vote on the current Collaboration of the Week, because I'm very interested in which articles you think need to be written or added to, and because I understand that I cannot do the enormous amount of work required on some of the Math stubs alone. I'm asking for your help, and also your critiques on the way the portal is set up.
Please direct all comments to User:Ral315 Wikipedia talk:Wikiportal/Mathematics, or Wikipedia talk:Mathematics Collaboration of the Week Thanks a lot for your support! User:Ral315 02:54, Feb 11, 2005 (UTC)
==Block of Adolf Hitler==
:Hi GeneralPatton, I have no problems with any of your actions surrounding your protecting the article Adolf Hitler. However I think whenever an article is protected, it is best if an explanation is given on the talk page of that article. I have posted the following on Talk:Adolf Hitler:
::''Although I think the block was probably warranted, I would appreciate an explanation here as to what the situation is with regard to the block. Specifically the reasons for the block, and when and under what circumstances the block will be lifted. I think it is always helpful to explain these things on the talk page whenever a block occurs. Thanks. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 17:27, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC)''
:Would you mind responding there? (In addition, you can, of course, if you like, also make a more personal response either here or on my talk page ;-) Thanks. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 17:47, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC)
Hi, I have answered your inquiry over at Talk:Adolf Hitler. User:GeneralPatton 22:50, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
:Thanks User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 23:07, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC)
::Feel free to ask anything in specific if you want. User:GeneralPatton 23:09, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
== Italics/bolding ==
It is standard practice not only on mathematics articles, but on articles in general, to bold the title word and synonyms thereof when they first occur, once. To bold key terms introduces a conflict since these key terms are not synonyms of the title. The best way of proceeding then is to italicise key terms.
I understand where some pages have been merged then the bolding has not been modified, but where this has not occurred, there may need to be a change in formatting. Thanks User:Dysprosia 00:50, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
== en-Dashes ==
Too bad- they're ugly. So far as any contrast between ''significant'' and ''reviled'', I think it's much more powerful and interesting without the dash, which seems to imply hesitation and qualification, but this amounts to an esthetic thing. User:Wyss 19:03, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
== Z is a cyclic group ==
Thanks for catching my typo (leaving out infinite) on integer. You also changed:
"Z is an example of a what is called a cyclic group. This follows from the fact that any integer can be expressed as the addition or subtraction of a finite number of 1s"
to:
"Z is a cyclic group, meaning that any integer can be expressed as the addition or subtraction of a finite number of 1s."
However I think the previous wording is better. Cyclic ''means'' that there exists a given element ''a'' such that every element is equal to a power of ''a''. That Z is cyclic, ''follows'' from the fact that 1 (or -1) is such an element.
User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 22:33, Feb 19, 2005 (UTC)
: Yes, you're right. Technically "cyclic" doesn't mean that "any integer can be expressed as the addition or subtraction of a finite number of 1s." I suspect that the distinction will be lost on anyone who doesn't already know what "cyclic" means. How about "since" instead of "meaning that"? User:Dbenbenn | User talk:Dbenbenn 02:17, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
"Since" is fine. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 04:50, Feb 20, 2005 (UTC)
==PLEASE VOTE==
* Wikipedia talk:Requested moves - help save Requested Moves, bring friends. I'd hope you vote to keep voting at RM instead of running away to cabal at distant talk pages. —User:ExplorerCDT 19:11, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)
==Attalus immortal==
I'm amazed at the number of WPans who caught that piece. The interviewer picked a good quote from a long interview. That article highlights the very essence of Wikipedia; not a thousand minor edits punctuated by vandalism, but a dozen major edits punctuated by errors, corrections, thorough analysis and fact-checking. (I particularly like the fact that originally, both the YOB and the coin image were wrong...)
btw, please come to the next cambridge-area wikipedia dinner... Bring family and friends! Last time, someone brought ten guests, which outnumbered the rest of us, but it was still a good time. cf. Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston User:Sj+">User Talk:Sj 06:14, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)
==Need Help==
The article vanavsos is up for deletion. Can you please help in this regard. Second, I am having difficulty with [http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Classical_definition_of_republic Wikinfo:Classical definition of republic] and am having trouble on Talk:Republic because they won't allow an external link. It was deleted off of Wikipedia, and I believe it needs to come back on. A serious mistake in deleting this article. Thanks for your time.User:WHEELER 18:36, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:I've read over vanavsos and the associated vfd debate, and although I think the page may contain some original research which needs to be cleaned up and perhaps a new title, I've voted to keep for now. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 21:43, Mar 10, 2005 (UTC)
== User:Larsie ==
I have clarified at Talk:Lesch-Nyhan_syndrome#Accuracy_concerns -- User:Curps 23:07, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:Thanks. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 21:47, Mar 10, 2005 (UTC)
== Arbitration Committee case opening ==
I am having trouble with classical works and definitions. It seems that User:Snowspinner is out to get me and destroy all classical works.
The Arbitration Committee has accepted Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/WHEELER. Please bring evidence to Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/WHEELER/Evidence. Thank you. -- User:GruntUser talk:Grunt European Union 20:19, 2005 Mar 9 (UTC)
Can I get your help in this regard? User:WHEELER 14:41, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:I'm not sure what help I can provide in this matter. However, I will follow the issue, and do whatever seems appropriate to me. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 21:53, Mar 10, 2005 (UTC)
==Classics link==
There is a page classicists can link up on and it is here at: Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_fields_of_interest_A-E#Classics. I invite you to place your name so that Classicists can find each other and corroborate on things together. Thank you for your time.User:WHEELER 18:30, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:Thanks for inviting me to add my name to Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_fields_of_interest_A-E#Classics. However, although I'm very interested in the classics (I've read Plato and Aristotle and lots more), I was trained as a mathematician, and I hardly qualify as a classicist. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 22:10, Mar 10, 2005 (UTC)
== NBG set theory ==
I fully agree with your idea of renaming Von Neumann-Bernays-Gödel axioms to Von Neumann-Bernays-Gödel set theory. Thanks for the kind words and suggestions!
--User:Dustinmulcahey 19:12, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)
== table for list of participants ==
Hi Paul. Maybe nothing will come out of this, and I am still ambivalent about the table, but I had a little time and wrote a small script to spit out the table (the pattern is quite predicatable, and I did not even have to learn the syntax of the Wiki table). Anyway, take a look at User:Oleg Alexandrov/Test page2 to see what I've got. User:Oleg Alexandrov 20:44, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:Very nice! I had thought the usernames could be in alphabetical order, but maybe that's too compulsive :) They probably wouldn't stay that way anyway. So does this mean you're warming up to the table idea? Or are you just showing off :) I wish I could trade my little knowledge of table syntax for your obvious (Perl is it?) expertise ;-) By the way, after all of us taking a PlanetMath break, I see progress is once again being made, plus we have a new helper! Regards, User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 21:42, Mar 13, 2005 (UTC) (P.S. sorry to have disagreed with you on the "Boundedness debate", I was a bit concerned that you misread my feeble attempt at humor there ;-)
:: I realised after I posted that message you will want a sorted version. I posted it now on User:Oleg Alexandrov/Test page2. Please note that sorting things alphabetically makes some comments have less sense, as they used to refer to what was above. But that matters little.
:: Yes it was Perl, and actually a very simple code.
:: On the "Boundedness debate", your comment was entirely appropriate, and I got the humor.
:: About WP:PMEX. Yes, having Linas over woke us up a bit. Now I am ironing the last bugs from the planetmath update sript (not that we ran out of things to do :) User:Oleg Alexandrov 21:52, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
::: Just fixed an embarrasing bug over there, which made some red links. User:Oleg Alexandrov 21:56, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
After consulting my inner self for the better half of yesterday and this morning, I must honestly say that the reason for writing that script was to indeed show off. (It is hard to fight against the sinful nature :) User:Oleg Alexandrov 16:30, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Hi Paul,
I much prefer the table, so I'll wait for it to replace the old list.User:MarSch 15:51, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
== Math project participants list ==
Hi Oleg, I've taken your participants table and updated it like so:
User:Paul August/Subpage 13
What do you think? Besides the two users, User:Stochata and User:Tomo who have replied in favor of the table on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mathematics, another user User:MarSch, on my talk page has said he likes the tabular form as well. I would have preferred to have heard from some of the more senior participants, but I'm inclined to go ahead with this anyway, unless you are still opposed. I have to say your script generated table has made it too hard for me to resist, so you are hoist on your own Perl petard, so to speak ;-)
User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 21:10, Mar 18, 2005 (UTC)
: You made a good case for the table. And it is not hard to fill in, one just needs to copy a row from above, and rewrite some of that info.
: Most people did not reply because I think nobody cares :) So the best thing to do is, as you plan, to just go ahead with it. User:Oleg Alexandrov 21:22, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:: PS The table looks good. User:Oleg Alexandrov 21:24, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I'm glad you like it. Yes I'm assuming that most people are indifferent. I will go ahead then. Your script made it much easier. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 21:29, Mar 18,
==Check it out==
We have an unmitigated disaster on our hands. Please check out republic. And I don't know what I am talking about.User:WHEELER 16:35, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
== User 65.39.159.10 ==
Hi Sannse. FYI, I noticed that you blocked IP User_talk:65.39.159.10 for vandalism (I presume). Well the IP seems now to be unblocked and back to vandalizing, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lady_Macbeth_%28historical%29&diff=prev&oldid=11249037. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 14:40, Mar 18, 2005 (UTC)
:Looks like an isolated one, but he can be blocked quickly enough if it continues. Best to report such things at WP:VIP or WP:AN though, you are more likely to catch someone there is quick action is needed - I've been mostly away for a week or two -- User:Sannse User talk:Sannse 23:36, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Thanks Sannse. Yes, I could see that the IP wasn't going on a vandalism spree. But I wanted to give you a heads-up since you had had some experience with the IP. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 13:32, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
== Merging Graph theory and Graph (mathematics) ==
Hi Xiong. I noticed your comment about merging Graph theory and Graph (mathematics) at Wikipedia:Duplicate articles. This was discussed at some length here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject_Mathematics#Graph_.28mathematics.29_vs_Graph_theory. The majority view was to keep them seperate. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 21:38, Mar 20, 2005 (UTC)
:Thanks for pointing that out. Please see my detailed comment there, at the bottom of the discussion. You are first in line to be tapped as my buddy expert. — User:Xiong (User talk:Xiong) 02:55, 2005 Mar 21 (UTC)
I'd be glad to help any way I can. But I'm not particularly knowledgeable in this field. You might want to look here Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Participants, for people more qualified (besides the other editors of those pages of course). User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 13:41, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
: As you suggest, the editors of those pages probably know more about the field than anyone else. Don't worry; they'll be all over the refactored content, looking for things to pick at. They're certainly the wrong ones to midwife the refactoring itself, wouldn't you say?
: I have a fair background myself, but I'll feel better knowing there is another hot body signed onto this project, willing to look it over as I go and cover my blind spot. Your demonstrated interest outweighs your self-declared shortcomings; besides, you openly state on your user page that you are a topologist. If the article goes over ''your'' head, it's too advanced for a general-interest encyclopedia.
: May I consider you on board? — User:Xiong (User talk:Xiong) 15:19, 2005 Mar 21 (UTC)
I'm not so inclined, as you, to discount the possible help you might get from the past editors of those articles, as well as others on Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Participants (did you look there?) I'm familiar with many of them and have alot of respect for their opinions. Also I would encourage you to discuss your changes on the various talk pages. As for my help, all I can promise is that I will put all of the related articles on my watchlist, and respond as seems appropriate. Please feel free to ask for my input, whenever you like, and I will try to give it, as time, interest and expertise allow. Also I will be away for the next three weeks, on vacation. Happy editing. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 15:38, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
By the way, as for saying on my user page that I am a topologist (actually it says "Alleged Categorical Topologist"), that's true, however notice it ''also'' says that I was "Once Considered Talented", the operative word being ''once''. User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 16:16, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
: I don't discount help from former editors; I think such would be readily forthcoming, but worse than useless. After all, their best efforts got us here, and this is not a Good Place. Mathematical competence negatively correlates with clear technical writing skills. Mathematicians (how well I know!) are trained to enumerate every single special case and use language they believe to be absolutely precise and accurate. Technical writers learn that most readers are unable to follow complex logical constructions and that, for a general readership, some quibbles must be glossed over.
: Steven Hawking wrote (in A Brief History of Time) he was advised that every equation he included in a book intended for a general audience would cut his sales in half; therefore he resolved to present, in no little detail, the state of the art in cosmology (including his own significant contributions) without any equations at all. He reluctantly included Einstein's famous statement of the equivalence of mass and energy, but otherwise got along without.
: Former editors will make their contributions to the refactored work after it is "live", I have no doubt. There is no point in watching the existing pages, unless you want to see what Someone else is doing to it. I plan to develop the refactoring entirely on a set of my user pages and have you look over it before I cast it loose.
: Enjoy your vacation -- or, if you should read this on your return, Yay! Now get back to work. — User:Xiong (User talk:Xiong) 03:30, 2005 Mar 22 (UTC)
== Wikiproject mathematics ==
Hello Paul,
The informations in the table are correct, thanks for the links. I have a lot of work to do these months (finishing undergraduate studies, finding grants for Ph.D), so I won't be much around (today I went to wiki only to check something, not to contribute). I'll return later :-) User:Schopenhauer 00:24, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
== Vacation? ==
Help! Somebody highjacked Paul's account while he is on vacation, and doing all kinds of things in here! Or is it a clerverly devised bot Paul wrote? :) Or does Paul mean this is what vacation means, away from work, able to concentrate on Wikipedia full time? User:Oleg Alexandrov 17:48, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
:I'm just nervously doing a little editing while waiting till it's time to go to the airport, and then it's off to Sicily ;-) User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August
Welcome back! Hope you had a good time, and are now ready to plounge back in the virtual world. :) User:Oleg Alexandrov 19:06, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
:Thanks. I'm back, but I'm a bit addled, so "plounge" sounds about right ;-) User:Paul August User_talk:Paul August 22:01, Apr 12, 2005 (UTC)
== Revolver ==
Hi, thanks for the kind words. I've done some anonymous editing recently, mainly with category theory (I'm the user who added a bunch of stuff about n-categories and created the new category (mathematics) article. I'll probably return. I needed a little breather. Despite my concerns about the project, it's clear it's going to continue on and grow indefinitely, so it's probably not morally tenabl |