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My belief is that it is legitimate to cite some posts of the main site MathOverflow in the classroom of some course. Under this assumption I've wondered about the following question.

I don't know those but I'm curious about the typology of different courses that are taken in different departments of mathematics or institutes of mathematics, I know the denomination of these courses but I don't know what is the meaning, motivation, scope or audience of these courses: seminars, courses that are taken by or whose instructor is a postdoctoral researcher, courses by visiting professors, crash courses, summer school of mathematical societies or universities,….

Question. I would like to know if the posts of MathOverflow are potentially interesting (I evoke the study of some theorem, example or open/research problem…) in the context of the teaching of some course for professional mathematicians, see the previous list. Many thanks.

Isn't required specify what specific theorem or example or open problem you've in mind, just I'm asking if in general if it could be interesting cite and to study posts in courses for professional mathematicans: in what situations are you thinking and why (please justify your words).

I hope that this question is interesting and suitable for this Meta, feel free to add your feedback in comments. Yesterday I've edited and deleted the post on the main site MathOverflow, this post with identifier 438468 I hope your feedback: I think that the question is interesting.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm not a professor, and at that date I'm not a student. I'm asking it as curiousity. $\endgroup$
    – user142929
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 18:27
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    $\begingroup$ I thought that Meta was for asking questions about the working of MO. I suspect that this is not particularly suitable for MO itself, but the community is sometimes much more tolerant of what one might call 'soft' questions than I am (there's even a tag!), so this could possibly do well there. $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 23:25
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    $\begingroup$ Many thanks @LSpice $\endgroup$
    – user142929
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 16:16
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    $\begingroup$ Of course it's possible. I used MO answers in some of my Differential Geometry classes. $\endgroup$
    – Moishe Kohan
    Commented Jan 17, 2023 at 0:41
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    $\begingroup$ Many thanks @MoisheKohan for your feedback, if you consider it, please expand your comment in an answer (adding those details why these were good lessons/matheatical lectures, your motivation, the goals that you had in mind... and other details that you consider important in the context of my Question). $\endgroup$
    – user142929
    Commented Jan 17, 2023 at 18:59
  • $\begingroup$ Please professor @MoisheKohan you're invited to provide an answer. I hope don't bother to you with my insistence. Good week. $\endgroup$
    – user142929
    Commented Feb 10, 2023 at 16:17

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I would like to know if the posts of MathOverflow are potentially interesting (I evoke the study of some theorem, example or open/research problem…) in the context of the teaching of some course for professional mathematicians.

Yes, but the trouble is that it a loose database with limited search options, so one will have to do a lot of manual sifting work to select a noticeable size collection useful for some particular course. I certainly learned a few tricks I didn't know before from here and I'll dare say that there are a few people who learned a few tricks from me. What I usually do is just to follow the posts of some people of my choice plus search for some key words (like "engineer" on MSE; I like trying to answer questions of people who are not professional mathematicians themselves) or go into the bounty lists. BTW, MSE is has at least as many questions that may be useful for your purposes as MO, only while searching MO is like trying to find the right straw in a hay stack, searching MSE is like trying to find the right grain of sand on a sea shore.

if it could be interesting cite and to study posts in courses for professional mathematicans: in what situations are you thinking and why (please justify your words).

You have a much easier option of doing this in reverse: when running your course, decide what exactly you would like to get a community/expert input on and ask a question (just ask it in a clear, concise, and meaningful way: posting something like "I wonder what are some interesting things you can say in general on the subject of finding the extrema of functions of several variables" would most likely get your post closed in no time). Also experiment with asking on MSE first: the community is mostly the same but the tolerance level to imperfectly asked questions is much higher there. Of course, the burden of "justification" will be on you in that case, but I presume that you know what you are doing and why you are doing it, so that should be easy.

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  • $\begingroup$ Many thanks for your excellent answer professor. I wait that there are more professors who can to add their feedback here as a comment, or with more answers. $\endgroup$
    – user142929
    Commented Mar 23, 2023 at 13:18

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