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The Mathematics Portal

Mathematics is the study of numbers and their operations, interrelations, combinations, generalizations, and abstractions and of space configurations and their structure, measurement, transformations, and generalizations. It evolved through the use of abstraction and logical reasoning, from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic study of positions, shapes and motions of physical objects. Mathematicians explore such concepts, aiming to formulate new conjectures and establish their truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions.

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The figure-eight knot is an example of a mathematical knot.

Knot theory is the branch of topology that studies mathematical knots, which are defined as embeddings of a circle in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, R³. This is basically equivalent to a conventional knotted string with the ends of the string joined together to prevent it from becoming undone. Two mathematical knots are considered equivalent if one can be transformed into the other via continuous deformations (known as ambient isotopies); these transformations correspond to manipulations of a knotted string that do not involve cutting the string or passing the string through itself.

Knots can be described in various ways, but the most common method is by planar diagrams. Given a method of description, a knot will have many descriptions, e.g., many diagrams, representing it. A fundamental problem in knot theory is determining when two descriptions represent the same knot. One way of distinguishing knots is by using a knot invariant, a "quantity" which remains the same even with different descriptions of a knot.

Research in knot theory began with the creation of knot tables and the systematic tabulation of knots. While tabulation remains an important task, today's researchers have a wide variety of backgrounds and goals. Classical knot theory, as initiated by Max Dehn, J. W. Alexander, and others, is primarily concerned with the knot group and invariants from homology theory such as the Alexander polynomial.

The discovery of the Jones polynomial by Vaughan Jones in 1984, and subsequent contributions from Edward Witten, Maxim Kontsevich, and others, revealed deep connections between knot theory and mathematical methods in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory. A plethora of knot invariants have been invented since then, utilizing sophisticated tools such as quantum groups and Floer homology.

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The exponential function is one of the most important functions in mathematics. It can be written in the form $e x$ , where e is a mathematical constant, sometimes known as Euler's number.

The exponential function exists for any complex number. Plotted above are the real part (left) and the imaginary part (right) of various values of the exponential function in the complex plane.

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Did you know...

...that the set of rational numbers is equal in size to the subset of integers; that is, they can be put in one-to-one correspondence?
...that there are precisely six convex regular polytopes in four dimensions? These are analogs of the five Platonic solids known to the ancient Greeks.
...that it is unknown whether π and e are algebraically independent?
...that a nonconvex polygon with three convex vertices is called a pseudotriangle?
...that it is possible for a three dimensional figure to have a finite volume but infinite surface area? An example of this is Gabriel's Horn.
... that as the dimension of a hypersphere tends to infinity, its "volume" (content) tends to 0?
...that the primality of a number can be determined using only a single division using Wilson's Theorem?
...that the line separating the numerator and denominator of a fraction is called a solidus if written as a diagonal line or a vinculum if written as a horizontal line.
...that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type the complete works of William Shakespeare.

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Topics in mathematics

General	Foundations	Number theory	Discrete mathematics
Mathematicians History of mathematics Philosophy of mathematics Mathematical notation Mathematical beauty Mathematics education Areas of mathematics	Foundations of mathematics Mathematical logic Set theory (portal) Naive set theory Axiomatic set theory Proof theory Model theory Recursion theory Category theory (portal) Topos theory Gödel's incompleteness theorems	Number theory (portal) Algebraic number theory Analytic number theory Arithmetic Numbers Natural numbers Prime numbers Rational numbers Algebraic numbers Fundamental theorem of arithmetic	Discrete mathematics (portal) Combinatorics Graph theory Game theory Discrete geometry Theoretical computer science Computability theory Complexity theory Information theory
Analysis	Algebra	Geometry and topology	Applied mathematics
Analysis (portal) Calculus Vector calculus Differential equations Calculus of variations Real analysis Complex analysis Functional analysis Measure theory Harmonic analysis Special functions Fundamental theorem of calculus	Algebra (portal) Elementary algebra Abstract algebra Group theory Ring theory Field theory Commutative algebra Linear algebra Matrix theory Multilinear algebra Universal algebra Order theory Fundamental theorem of algebra	Geometry (portal) Topology (portal) General topology Algebraic topology Geometric topology Euclidean geometry Non-Euclidean geometry Affine geometry Projective geometry Differential geometry Riemannian geometry Lie groups Algebraic geometry Trigonometry	Applied mathematics Numerical analysis Mathematical biology Optimization Dynamical systems Chaos theory Financial mathematics Cryptography (portal) Mathematical physics Classical mechanics Probability Statistics Stochastic processes Operations research

Index of mathematics articles

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MATHEMATICIANS:	A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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