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Author(s): P. R. Halmos
Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 87, No. 7 (Aug. - Sep., 1980), pp. 519-524
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2321415
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THE HEART OF MATHEMATICS
P. R. HALMOS
Introduction. What does mathematics really consistof? Axioms(such as the parallelpos-
tulate)?Theorems(suchas thefundamental theoremof algebra)?Proofs(suchas Godel's proof
of undecidability)?Concepts (such as sets and classes)? Definitions(such as the Menger
definitionof dimension)?Theories(such as categorytheory)?Formulas(such as Cauchy's
integralformula)?Methods(such as themethodof successiveapproximations)?
Mathematicscould surelynot existwithouttheseingredients; theyare all essential.It is
neverthelessa tenablepointof viewthatnone of themis at theheartof the subject,thatthe
mathematician's main reason for existenceis to solve problems,and that,therefore, what
mathematics reallyconsistsof is problemsand solutions.
"Theorem"is a respectedwordin thevocabularyof mostmathematicians, but "problem"is
notalwaysso. "Problems,"as theprofessionals sometimes use theword,are lowlyexercisesthat
are assignedto studentswhowilllaterlearnhowto provetheorems. Theseemotionalovertones
are,however,notalwaystherightones.
The commutativity of addition for naturalnumbersand the solvabilityof polynomial
equationsoverthecomplexfieldare boththeorems, butone of themis regardedas trivial(near
easy to understand,
thebasic definitions, easy to prove),and theotheras deep (thestatement is
not obvious,the proofcomes via seeminglydistantconcepts,the resulthas manysurprising
applications).To findan unbeatablestrategy and to locate all thezeroesof the
fortic-tac-toe
Riemannzeta functionare both problems,but one of themis trivial(anybodywho can
understand thedefinitionscan findtheanswerquickly,withalmostno intellectual effortand no
feelingof accomplishment, and the answerhas no consequencesof interest), and the otheris
deep (no one has foundtheansweralthoughmanyhave soughtit,theknownpartialsolutions
requiregreateffortand providegreatinsight,and an affirmative answerwould implymany
non-trivialcorollaries).Moral: theoremscan be trivialand problemscan be profound.Those
who believethattheheartof mathematics consistsof problemsare not necessarily wrong.
ProblemBooks. If youwantedto makea contribution to mathematics bywritingan articleor
a book on mathematicalproblems,how should you go about it? Should the problemsbe
elementary shouldtheybe at thelevelofundergraduates
(pre-calculus), or graduatestudents, or
should theybe researchproblemsto whichno one knowsthe answer?If the solutionsare
known,shouldyour workcontainthemor not? Should the problemsbe arrangedin some
systematic order(in whichcase theverylocationof theproblemis somehintto itssolution),or
shouldtheybe arrangedin some"random"way?Whatshouldyouexpectthereaderto getfrom
yourwork:fun,techniques, or facts(or someof each)?
All possibleanswersto thesequestionshave alreadybeengiven.Mathematical problemshave
quitean extensive whichis stillgrowing
literature, and flowering.A visitto thepartof thestacks
labeledQA43 (Libraryof Congressclassification) can be an excitingand memorablerevelation,
and thereare richsourcesof problemsscatteredthroughotherpartsof the stackstoo. What
followsis a quick reviewof some not quite randomlyselectedbut probablytypicalproblem
collectionsthatevena casual librarysearchcould uncover.
The authorreceivedhis Ph.D. fromthe Universityof Illinois; he has held positionsat (consecutively)Illinois,
Syracuse,Chicago, Michigan,Hawaii, Indiana, Santa Barbara, and Indiana, withvisitingpositionsfor various
periods at the Institutefor Advanced Study,Montevideo,Miami, Harvard, Tulane, Universityof Washington
(Seattle),Berkeley,Edinburgh,and Perth.He has publishedeightor morebooks and manyarticles;he has held a
GuggenheimFellowshipand is a memberof the Royal Society of Edinburghand the HungarianAcademy of
Sciences.The MAA has givenhim a ChauvenetPrize and two Ford awards. He has been active in the affairsof
both the AMS and the MAA, and will become editorof thisMoNrHLY on Jan. 1, 1982.
His mathematicalinterestsare in measureand ergodictheory,algebraiclogic,and operatorson Hilbertspace,
withexcursionsto probability,statistics,topologicalgroups,and Boolean algebras.-Editors
519
520 P. R. HALMOS [Aug.-Sept.
( b bc ac
det b' b'c' a'c' = 0.
\b" b"c" a"c"
Vr f or Vin+ n?
The chapteron sequenceshas theonlydetailedand completediscussionthatI haveeverseen
of the fascinating(and non-trivial)
problemabout the convergencecsfthe infiniteprocess
indicatedby thesymbol
xxx
almosteverywhere.
functionis differentiable There is a discussionof thatvestigialcuriosity
called Osgood's theorem,whichis theLebesgueboundedconvergence theoremforcontinuous
functionson a closed boundedinterval.The Weierstrasspolynomialapproximation theoremis
brokendown intobite-sizelemmas),and so is one of Gauss's proofsof the
here(intelligently
fundamental theoremofalgebra.For a finalexampleI mentiona questionthatshouldbe asked
continuouson
muchmoreoftenthatit probablyis: is therean exampleof a seriesof functions,
a closed bounded interval,that convergesabsolutelyand uniformly, but for which the
WeierstrassM-testfails?
old pun that deservesto be kept alive), and the methodtherebyopens doors whose very
existencemightneverhavebeen suspectedbehinda solidlybuiltstructure ofsettledfacts.As for
theWeierstrass M-test,or whatever in class-well, booksandjournals
else was givenshortshrift
do exist,and studentshave been knownto read themin a pinch.
Epilogue.I do believe that problemsare the heartof mathematics, and I hope that as
in theclassroom,in seminars,
teachers, and in thebooksand articleswe write,we willemphasize
themmore and more,and thatwe will trainour studentsto be betterproblem-posers and
problem-solversthanwe are.
References
1. H. Dorrie,100GreatProblemsofElementary Mathematics,Dover,NewYork,1965.
2. I. M. Glazmanand Ju. I. Ljubic,Finite-DimensionalLinearAnalysis:A Systematic Presentation
in
ProblemForm,MIT, Cambridge, 1974.
3. D. Hilbert,
Mathematical
problems,Bull.Amer.Math.Soc.,8 (1902)437-479.
4. G. Klambauer,Problems in Analysis,
and Propositions Dekker, NewYork,1979.
5. MathematicalDevelopmentsArisingfromHilbertProblems,AMS, Providence,1976.
6. G. PolyaandG. Szego,Problemsand.Theorems inAnalysis, Berlin,1972,1976.
Springer,
7. H. Steinhaus,
One HundredProblems in Elementary
Mathematics,BasicBooks,NewYork,1964.