Month: July 2021

Equivalent Definitions of e

(A new question of the week) It is not unusual for mathematicians to define a concept in multiple ways, which can be proved to be equivalent. One definition may lead to a theorem, which another presentation uses as the definition, from which the original definition can be proved as a theorem. Here, in yet another …

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Separable Differential Equations

(A new question of the week) We received a couple different questions recently about solving differential equations by separation of variables, and why the method is valid. We’ll start with a direct question about it, and then look at an attempt at an alternate perspective using differentials.

Two Integration Puzzlers

Two recent questions (that came to us within two hours) dealt with apparent contradictions in integration. The first seems to give a result of zero that is clearly wrong; the second seems to give two different results for the same integral.