# All Questions

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### Explanation of method for showing that 0 / 0 is undefined

(This was asked due to the comments and downvotes on this Stackoverflow answer. I am not that good at maths, so was wondering if I had made any basic mistakes) Ignoring limits, I would like to know ...
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### Is there possibly a largest prime number?

Prime numbers are numbers with no factors other than one and itself. Factors of a number are always lower or equal to than a given number; so, the larger the number is, the larger the pool of ...
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### Reed Solomon Polynomial Generator

I am developing a sample program to generate a 2D Barcode. And i am using reed solomon error correction code. By Going through this article i am developing the program. But i couldn't understand how ...
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### What is the term for a factorial type operation, but with summation instead of products?

(Pardon if this seems a bit beginner, this is my first post in math - trying to improve my knowledge while tackling Project Euler problems) I'm aware of Sigma notation, but is there a function/name ...
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### Elementary central binomial coefficient estimates

How to prove that $\quad\displaystyle\frac{4^{n}}{\sqrt{4n}}<\binom{2n}{n}<\frac{4^{n}}{\sqrt{3n+1}}\quad$ for all $n$ > 1 ? Does anyone know any better elementary estimates?
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### Proving Pascal's Rule : ${{n} \choose {r}}={{n-1} \choose {r-1}}+{{n-1} \choose r}$ when $1\leq r\leq n$

I'm trying to prove that ${n \choose r}$ is equal to ${{n-1} \choose {r-1}}+{{n-1} \choose r}$ when $1\leq r\leq n$. I suppose I could use the counting rules in probability, perhaps combination= ...
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### Indefinite integral of secant cubed

I need to calculate the following indefinite integral: $$I=\int \frac{1}{\cos^3(x)}dx$$ I know what the result is (from Mathematica): $$I=\tanh^{-1}(\tan(x/2))+(1/2)\sec(x)\tan(x)$$ but I don't ...
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### Proof that an integral domain that is a finite-dimensional $F$-vector space is in fact a field

I'm reading Galois Theory by Steven H. Weintraub (second edition), and finding that I'm at least somewhat short on the prerequisites. However the following proof looks wrong to me - am I ...
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### Prove $\sin(A+B)\sin(A-B)=\sin^2A-\sin^2B$

How would I verify the following double angle identity. $$\sin(A+B)\sin(A-B)=\sin^2A-\sin^2B$$ So far I have done this. $$(\sin A\cos B+\cos A\sin B)(\sin A\cos B-\cos A\sin B)$$But I am not sure ...
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### Cartesian Product of Two Countable Sets is Countable

How can I prove that the Cartesian product of two countable sets is also countable?
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### Is infinity a number?

Is infinity a number? Why or why not? Some commentary: I've found that this is an incredibly simple question to ask — where I grew up, it was a popular argument starter in elementary school ...
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### Group of order 15 is abelian

How do I prove group of order 15 is abelian? Is there any general strategy to prove that a group of particular order(composite order) is abelian?
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### Overview of basic facts about Cauchy functional equation

The Cauchy functional equation asks about functions $f \colon \mathbb R \to \mathbb R$ such that $$f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y).$$ It is a very well-known functional equation, which appears in various areas of ...
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### The $\sigma$-algebra of subsets of $X$ generated by a set $\mathcal{A}$ is the smallest sigma algebra including $\mathcal{A}$

I am struggling to understand why it should be that the $\sigma$-algebra of subsets of $X$ generated by $\mathcal{A}$ should be the smallest $\sigma$-algebra of subsets of $X$ including $\mathcal{A}$. ...
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### Normal subgroup of prime index

Generalizing the case $p=2$ we would like to know if the statement below is true. Let $p$ the smallest prime dividing the order of $G$. If $H$ is a subgroup of $G$ with index $p$ then $H$ is normal. ...
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### Motivation behind the definition of GCD and LCM

According to me, I can find the GCD of two integers (say $a$ and $b$) by finding all the common factors of them, and then finding the maximum of all these common factors. This also justifies the ...
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### Is $0$ a natural number?

Is there a consensus in the mathematical community, or some accepted authority, to determine whether zero should be classified as a natural number? It seems as though formerly $0$ was considered in ...
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### Proof that a Combination is an integer

From its definition a combination $(^n_k)$, is the number of distinct subsets of size k from a set of n elements. This is clearly an integer, however I was curious as to why the equation ...
### How do I compute $a^b\,\bmod c$ by hand?
How do I efficiently compute $a^b\,\bmod c$: When $b$ is huge, for instance $5^{844325}\,\bmod 21$? When $b$ is less than $c$ but it would still be a lot of work to multiply $a$ by itself $b$ times, ...