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I found myself in a slightly awkward situation.

"Working" (hobby) on group conjugation I learnt about quandles and I finally managed to formulate some questions of some of the issues that interest me about conjugation but after some research on google I could not find easy introductions to the topic (Quandles and Conjugation Quandles) so I asked my questions on MathSE.

Since I wasn't able to find similar question there and the question I have asked did not raise much interest, I wanted to try it on MathOverlow... In half of the time I got already two answers! But I'm not sure that was a good idea anymore...

Even if I can understand my question (I hope) I can't understand the 70% of the answers.

Now I'm working hard searching the definitions of all the concepts that appears on the answers In order not "waste" the efforts that they have made.

What I should do?

  • I should accept randomly one of the two answers? Or I should wait until I will be able to understand the answers?

  • Can I comment/ask for more informations even if there is the risk that I will not able to understand more clarifications?

I apologize in advance for my bad English

more info

Question on MO

Question on MSE

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    $\begingroup$ I would wait until you understand at least one answer (but preferably both/all) before accepting. Of course you can comment or ask questions, and in this situation you probably should. The answers look eminently understandable to me, so you should take heart. $\endgroup$
    – Todd Trimble
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 14:58
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    $\begingroup$ There is never any requirement to accept an answer at all. $\endgroup$
    – TRiG
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 13:57
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    $\begingroup$ I can't understand the 70% of the answers. - What are you insinuating ? :-) $\endgroup$
    – Lucian
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 21:22
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    $\begingroup$ Based on this meta.MSE thread: Reasking a MathOverflow question I'd say that if there is some particular detail of a MO post (either yours or of some other person), it is ok to ask on MSE about clarification. I suppose that if the question would be MO-level, it would be ok to ask on MO instead. (But of course trying by yourself and asking for clarification in comments to the answers should be the first step.) I am not sure whether something similar was discussed at meta.MO or tea. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Apr 15, 2014 at 7:53
  • $\begingroup$ @ToddTrimble Thanks, I'll do this. $\endgroup$
    – MphLee
    Commented Apr 15, 2014 at 8:25
  • $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak Yes I'll think about asking questions on MSE too. $\endgroup$
    – MphLee
    Commented Apr 15, 2014 at 8:26
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    $\begingroup$ I still need to upload my answer that I promised to post. I hope that answer will be understandable. $\endgroup$
    – Joseph Van Name
    Commented Apr 15, 2014 at 16:47

1 Answer 1

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If you don't understand the answer, ask in your comments the person who gave the answer for more explanation. Certainly you don't mark the question as "answered" until you understand. What for?

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    $\begingroup$ I don't understand this answer. $\endgroup$
    – Alec Jacobson
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 21:50
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    $\begingroup$ @mangledorf: then ask a question. What you wrote is a statement, not a question:-) $\endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    Commented Apr 24, 2014 at 13:16

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