We’ve been looking at degenerate figures, starting with the most interesting case, degenerate conic sections. But other things can also be degenerate, so we should take a look at some of these, which perhaps arise even more often. We’ll examine triangles that aren’t triangles, rectangles that aren’t rectangles, and bigger polygons – or smaller polygons! …
Last time we looked at what a degenerate conic section is, and how it relates on one hand to actual cones, and on the other to the general equation of the conic. Here we’ll look at the parameters of conic sections (focus, directrix, axes, and especially eccentricity) and how they apply to degenerate cases. Does …
Degenerate Conics II: Are Their Parameters Meaningful? Read More »
Degenerate cases are instances of a concept that are just on the edge of fitting its definition. They occur when we stretch a definition to its limits, at which point some of the original properties remain, but others break. We’ll start here with common instances of the phenomenon, in conic sections, pursuing the elusive case …
Degenerate Conics I: Mystery of the Missing Case Read More »
(A new question of the week) Sometimes we have lots of quick questions and a number of long discussions, neither of which seems suitable for a post. This time I’ve chosen to combine two distantly related questions, one recent and one from several months ago, both involving tangent lines to functions.
Terminology and definitions in mathematics sometimes vary according to context. Here we’ll look at the ideas of relations, functions, and their domains, and discover that they look different from different perspectives.
(A new question of the week) I had a long discussion recently about the Cartesian product of sets, answering questions like, “How is it Cartesian?” and “How is it a product?” I like discussions about the relationships between different concepts, and people who ask these little-but-big questions. We’ll be looking at about a quarter of …
Sometimes the more basic an idea is, the harder it is to define it. It is also very hard to understand a definition in English when you are not a native speaker! We have had some interesting discussions of such issues recently with a student who asks very basic and yet very challenging questions of …
Abstract algebra can be a huge leap for many students, who may know algebra well, but are not used to abstraction – generalizing the concept of numbers so we can invent new kinds of “numbers” and “operations” and comparing their properties. Here we will look at a question from a student beginning the study of …
(A new question of the week) A recent question dealt with an apparent conflict between the right-triangle definition of sines and cosines, and the unit-circle definition, pertaining to multiples of 90° (angles on the axes). This provides an opportunity to look closely at the relationship between those two definitions. Two definitions Recall that the right-triangle …
(A new question of the week) A set is closed under an operation if, whenever that operation is applied to two elements of the set, the result is still an element of the set. It’s straightforward … until you look closely at some details! In the course of the discussion, we’ll dig into different definitions …
Is {0} Closed Under Division? Thoughts, and Second Thoughts Read More »