I am trying to start reading up on maths proofs, nothing specific, I am just interested to see how people have proved famously difficult maths problems such as fermats last theorem or progress on the twin primes conjecture which are just two I have in mind initially. But the problem is I don't know where to look for papers unless I specifically know the name. If I know the name of a paper, I am able to find it by searching it on google and it will come up but is there like a main place to go to, to browse different mathematical papers?
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I'm afraid "trying to start reading up on math proofs" and "such as fermats last theorem" don't go together well ... – Hagen von Eitzen Jun 27 '19 at 12:16
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lol ok so im assuming thats quite advances, thats ok im happy to start small and work my way up – cool dud Jun 27 '19 at 12:48
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Wikipedia articles on mathematical topics generally have a References section with links to various papers. Any halfway decent math text will have a Bibliography.
But don't expect to understand Wiles's proof of Fermat's last theorem if you're a beginner. It will take years of intensive study to get there.
Robert Israel
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+1 I would suggest "Don't expect to understand even the ideas behind Wiles's proof, let alone the proof itself ...". – Ethan Bolker Jun 27 '19 at 12:21
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For
trying to start reading up on maths proofs
I recommend Proofs from the Book, which
... contains 32 sections (44 in the fifth edition), each devoted to one theorem but often containing multiple proofs and related results. It spans a broad range of mathematical fields: number theory, geometry, analysis, combinatorics and graph theory. Erdős himself made many suggestions for the book, but died before its publication. The book is illustrated by Karl Heinrich Hofmann. It has gone through five editions in English, and has been translated into Persian, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Korean, Turkish, Russian and Spanish.
In November 2017 the American Mathematical Society announced the 2018 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition to be awarded to Aigner and Ziegler for this book.
Ethan Bolker
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ok thanks, would you say that the book would be suitable for my level of understanding which is having just finished doing a level maths and further maths? – cool dud Jun 27 '19 at 12:57
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@cooldud The level of understanding required for reading the proofs in the Book varies a lot from proof to proof. I'm pretty sure you would find some too deep, some just right, perhaps a few apparently too easy (but in fact quite clever). – Ethan Bolker Jun 27 '19 at 13:02
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ok thanks I think I might just have to buy that book, it seems like a good introduction to the field – cool dud Jun 28 '19 at 10:57
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@cooldud You're welcome. There's a sixth edition now, but a second hand copy of an earlier one would do just fine. – Ethan Bolker Jun 28 '19 at 11:20
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As Robert mentioned it will take lots of time to understand such theorems. You should maybe consider to search for some expository or survey articles about these theorems to get a grasp on how to prove them without understanding every single detail.
Con
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