I don’t have a mathematical background and am looking for an “intuitively satisfying” explanation (so, for example, the Wikipedia article is way too technical). Perhaps this is not possible in which case, fair enough.
I understand (I think) what a polynomial is and I believe algebraic geometry is about understanding the solutions to polynomial equations using abstract algebraic techniques and geometry. I rapidly get lost when the discussion shifts to rings, fields, schemes and so on. However, I’m not looking to understand all these different concepts but rather get a high level overview.
One day, I’d like to understand how Grothendieck revolutionized the discipline but that may be far too ambitious 🙂
In: Mathematics
There really isn’t a great way to distill this down to an ELI5 level imo, especially if you aren’t yet comfortable with polynomials
For context, polynomials are something introduced to 13 year olds, but abstract algebra courses (which provide the framework for discussing algebraic structures like groups, rings, etc) typically aren’t taught until upper division math courses
There’s a *lot* of math in between
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