Mathematics talent runs in my family, but although I enjoy learning about things in mathematics and biostatistics, I am a biochemist by training.
So I read a blog post by a mathematician, and started thinking, and writing, and consulting with my younger brother (also a mathematician), and we have a theorem.
But, perhaps just like in biochemistry, there are many times where someone thinks that they have discovered something, only to find out that a thorough search of the literature shows that someone else was first.
In chemistry, if you have synthesized a molecule, and think that you might be the first to do so, there are databases of molecular formulae, structures, and spectra that you can search, before you embarrass yourself.
My questions are these:
- How does one go about searching the mathematics literature, to see if a theorem has already been proven, or addressed in a different way?
- Is there a searchable database of mathematics ideas that researchers can query?
- Are these databases and other information available to the hoi-polloi?
Many thanks in advance for your help?