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I'm in high school so I don't know a whole lot about mathematic theories but I've started working on my own and have got a good proof written up but I'm not sure if this theory is already something that exists or not. Are there any websites I could check or any other ways I could check? My math teacher didn't know of anything like it (he teaches algebra and calculus).

Ok since this question has gotten really clustered I'm going to post a second question with my theorem to simply as if it has already been stated and proven. Here is a link Is this division theorem already a proven idea?

Jam
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Samantha Clark
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    what are the implication of your theory ? don't write the proof, but at least give the implication or what the improvement to math your theory will bring. – Ahmad May 01 '17 at 19:06
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    Even in research mathematics it can be quite difficult to verify if somebody has done something before, often because of notational or terminological differences. And people on the internet may not be very receptive either. You might consider trying to find a local scientist or mathematician who can mentor you and take a look at your work. – Christopher A. Wong May 01 '17 at 19:09
  • I'm not sure how exactly it will improve mathematics per se but it has to do with finding the factors that two numbers contain by dividing the two – Samantha Clark May 01 '17 at 19:16
  • Alright, I'll try heading over to a local college and see if there's a math teacher I can talk to, maybe they'll know – Samantha Clark May 01 '17 at 19:17
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    You could share the result here (without proof, if you like) and people will certainly give their opinions on the originality of it. Cheers! – Matthew Conroy May 01 '17 at 19:35
  • Would a result be an example of what my theory shows? – Samantha Clark May 01 '17 at 22:49
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    If you have proved something, it is a theorem. Sharing that theorem here would greatly improve this conversation. – Matthew Conroy May 05 '17 at 00:52
  • Relevant questions: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1643785 , https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2169686 , https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/275194 , https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/898042 – Jam Oct 09 '22 at 13:52

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Here is an algorithm that might work:

  1. Define a computable integer sequence based on your theory/theorem.

  2. Compute several terms of that sequence.

  3. Look up these terms in OEIS

  4. Repeat steps 1-3 several times. If most/all of the sequences are new, then it is likely that you have indeed found some new theory/theorem. If the sequences are already recorded in OEIS, read the relevant comments and references to figure out what exactly you have rediscovered.

Alex
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  • Ok, I'll give that a shot. Thanks :) – Samantha Clark May 05 '17 at 00:52
  • This is a good way to look for a reference that can be described by an integer sequence, but it should be taken with a caveat: coming across your finding in the literature means it's already known, but not coming across your finding only means you haven't found it yet. Failing to come across your finding leaves you no more certain that it is truly original, only slightly more confident. – Jam Oct 09 '22 at 13:57
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You could publish on Arxiv, then share to ask for feedback.

I would have suggested making a blog post such that the date of the post is verifiable, but Blogger does not work as the post can be edited without showing the edit date, meaning that people could claim you made the post before they published and edited in their results after.

Nazgand
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    Are there any real-life examples of high-school students publishing on arxiv?? – Alex May 05 '17 at 01:34
  • https://arxiv.org/help/registerhelp does not indicate that high-school students are not allowed. Also, I found an example: https://www.universetoday.com/44259/high-school-students-get-published-in-astrophysics-journal/ . In the comments, there is a link to the arxiv paper. – Nazgand May 05 '17 at 01:43
  • In your example, three of the co-authors are actually established scientists; that changes a lot! A new author on arxiv, without co-authors, would need an endorsement - and it is not easy to get endorsed. – Alex May 05 '17 at 01:56
  • If I post my theorem on here is the date unchangeable even if edited and such? – Samantha Clark May 05 '17 at 02:01
  • I'm not going to get my hopes up that this is something revolutionary and important, I know that's likely not the case and it's probably something that is already known but just in case you know? – Samantha Clark May 05 '17 at 02:04
  • I just publish my math on Blogger. I don't worry about credit. If someone insists that they came up with it first, like Newton did against Leibniz, I wouldn't be able to prove them wrong even if they are wrong. I invented some number theory involving nonpowers and the Riemann Zeta function, and 1+ years later, my advisor found some guy on the internet who had done 80%+ of it before me. I even Google searched and didn't find it until after my advisor showed me it. You seem to want credit, which is why I suggested Arxiv. There are other options, but I don't know them. – Nazgand May 05 '17 at 06:20