Questions tagged [on-topic]
For discussions and questions on the appropriateness (for the main site) of a question or a certain type of question.
129
questions
6
votes
1
answer
87
views
Mathoverflow for finding the name of mathematical concepts
I am used to posting on MathOverflow problems with questions. However, now I am looking for the name of a mathematical object that I think already exists (and I would be happy to find reference ...
- 1,497
4
votes
0
answers
264
views
Can I ask this question on Math Overflow? (Advice on how to get started)
I am thinking of applying for a maths PhD programme. I have more or less an idea of the subfield I'd like to research, but not much more than that. I'm looking for suggestions on how to properly ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
146
views
Asking if a post about a mathematical characterization of gravitational geons can be potentially interesting for the main site MathOverflow
I would like to ask about if a question about the following subject can be potentially interesting and on topic on MathOverflow. I would like to ask on the main site of MathOverflow about the ...
- 39
5
votes
0
answers
214
views
Would such a "big list" on known bounds for distances between $2^S-3^N$ be appropriate for MO?
After new questions and/or activities on older questions on "bounds for distances $2^S-3^N$" appeared in MO I thought whether a [BigList] or [CommunityWiki] on known such bounds (their ...
- 5,072
4
votes
0
answers
139
views
Planar geometry on MO
"Planar geometry" here is 2-dimensional Euclidean geometry, usually used as Olympiad geometry problem, its objects just be a bunch of lines and circles, it has no Combinatoric aspect and not ...
- 1,045
13
votes
2
answers
545
views
Questions about correctness of published papers
A recent thread brought up the issue of the appropriateness of discussing correctness of a published paper on MO.
Correctness of Thierry Aubin's argument about positive Ricci curvature
I did a ...
- 41.1k
14
votes
2
answers
869
views
Revamping the closure reasons in 2022
Prompted by Gro-Tsen's recent meta question, it appears that now may be a good time to rethink our site-specific close reasons here on MathOverflow.
Background:
If you have sufficient rep, you can ...
Tim CampionMod
- 52.9k
11
votes
1
answer
512
views
Could we add another reason for closing that's more appropriate for "check this (dis)proof of RH"-type questions?
I wanted to vote to close this question which claims to disprove the Riemann Hypothesis, but I realized that, even though we get questions of this kind occasionally, none of the reasons to close is ...
- 24.1k
3
votes
0
answers
147
views
Would this question be appropriate on the main site?
I would like to ask a "big list" style question on the main site.
The question would be "How do we pronounce the names of famous mathematicians?".
Each answer would be an audio ...
- 11.6k
4
votes
0
answers
436
views
Is this soft question acceptable?
Edited version: What are great examples of comprehensively archived mathematical correspondence (including both handwritten and electronic items)?
Previous version : How should mathematicians archive ...
- 2,801
-3
votes
1
answer
105
views
How to formulate a question for a Mathoverflow forum?
Can the following question be posted? “Where could an error be in the proposed proof of Fermat Last Theorem? Info about the author, proof and preliminary validation is at (link)”. How should the ...
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
298
views
What if I'm not sure about what area of math a problem lies?
One student asked me how to solve a problem and the only way of solving it that came to me seems hopeless to find an answers. It occurred to me that I may using a wrong approach to it. How could I ask ...
- 403
0
votes
0
answers
124
views
Is this partial differential equation on topic for Mathoverflow?
I came across this differential equation. I'm not sure if it's research level, but I think it might be:
$$u\frac{\partial}{\partial u}\left(u\frac{\partial f}{\partial u}\right) + v\frac{\partial}{\...
- 67
14
votes
0
answers
588
views
To which extent can one modify another's question?
One highly off-topic question of real analysis was asked in the main site by a new user. One user sent, 1 hour later, a long answer going far beyond the the question, and then, 12 hours later, edited ...
- 54k
2
votes
0
answers
177
views
Asking whether this question will be suitable and hence answered by people on MO ? ( I will use career and advice tag)
I am thinking of asking this question on the MO website which is due to the fact that how should I write/ explain the gap in my CV while applying for PHD programs in 2022.
Very brief of the situations ...
- 552
1
vote
0
answers
153
views
Self advertising and posting a candidate constructive proof
I would like to learn about appropriateness of posting a candidate constructive proof that decides a conjecture or open question and asking for counter examples that render the proof incorrect.
The ...
- 11.4k
21
votes
2
answers
777
views
How do off-topic question askers find MO?
Apologies if this has been addressed on Meta before (it's a little hard to know the right keywords to search for Meta questions with).
Question: Has there been any systematic attempt to try to figure ...
- 19.9k
14
votes
1
answer
636
views
Can I ask a question on MathOverflow and also on another site?
Sometimes one might ask a question on a website such as Mathematics Stack Exchange which is comparable but not identical to MathOverflow, and then decide to post the same question on MathOverflow. ...
Tim CampionMod
- 52.9k
11
votes
2
answers
346
views
(When) are "career advice" questions on-topic here? If and when such a question is on-topic, what to keep in mind in answering such a question?
We have a tag career and a tag advice. We don't have a flood of questions under these tags, but for several reasons I think it would also be appropriate for us to have a bit more guidance on meta ...
Tim CampionMod
- 52.9k
1
vote
1
answer
152
views
Is this the right community for "under-the-hood" math questions?
I've posted a few questions in the Mathematics Stack Exchange community asking about theoretical concerns, such as "Why is $\frac{\frac{1}{x}}{\frac{1}{x^2}+1}=\frac{x}{x^2+1}$ true for all $x$?&...
- 101
1
vote
0
answers
86
views
Appropriateness and cross-posting
I am interested in this question on math.stackexchange. To me it is interesting because while it looks "obvious" that there isn't a solution with 6 turns (I have some very partial results ...
- 312
11
votes
0
answers
388
views
Utility of Mathematics: Is this question appropriate here, and if not/if so, how can I phrase it better?
I would like to know if this question is appropriate for Math Overflow, and if so, how I can phrase it better to get the best results.
Question:
I recently spoke with a very nice mathematician who ...
- 101
4
votes
0
answers
347
views
Question on topic for Mathoverflow?
My question, asked months ago, was well received. Now...
I'm wondering if this question is on-topic for MathOverflow:
Consider a semi-Riemannian manifold $\zeta^{2,2}$ with metric, $g=\frac{dxdy}{xy}+...
- 67
2
votes
1
answer
240
views
Questions seemingly/apparently/ostensibly too elementary for overlfow
Well I don't really get notifications of flag responses sooo...
Nov 6 at 14:01 helpful - I suggest you take this up in meta; there is not enough space to answer here. But there are a number of ...
- 229
2
votes
0
answers
259
views
Is asking about name of a curve a research level question?
In my opinion this post is not a research level topic but surprisingly it has been received 22 votes.
Is the linked post a research level question and appropriate for MO?
I think it is more ...
- 4,085
10
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Questions, answers, comments or discussions on aspects of politics relevant to mathematicians on MathOverflow (main or meta)
Given the recent question here on meta about the deletion of a
comment stating a political opinion on an answer which also stated
a political opinion which sparked a lively debate, let me bring up the
...
Stefan KohlMod
- 18.4k
0
votes
0
answers
211
views
Would asking this question be permissible on the main site?
I have been working on a problem for days, that I previously mentioned on ComScience StackExchange. The answers were helpful. But, I need more information to develop a polynomial space algorithm.
I ...
- 101
11
votes
0
answers
343
views
Role of the tag "gm.general-mathematics"
This question is about the tag gm.general-mathematics. A meta question about it already occurred here, but was less specific (and didn't generate much discussion). See also the discussion in the ...
- 54k
10
votes
1
answer
529
views
High accuracy computation question on MO
Can I ask question which require very high accuracy calculation with very delicate nature on MO :
Ex: calculate:
$$S(q)=\int_{x=2}^q\sin^2\left(\frac{π\Gamma(x)}{2x}\right)dx$$ for $q=10^3$ or $10^...
- 375
11
votes
1
answer
484
views
Writing a proper MathOverflow question
I am in uni and I'm struggling to write a proper question for this site. I always end up writing too little and people say they need more detail. Sometimes I get a bad rep and criticised for being ...
- 67
1
vote
0
answers
123
views
Would this question be suitable for MO?
I have asked What are some efficient ways to keep a note of results of a paper? in Academia SE.
Would this question be suitable for MO?
Is this better suited in MO than academia?
- 5,293
11
votes
1
answer
685
views
Advice with arXiv: MO Meta or academia SE?
I would like to write a question $Q$ asking for advice about what to do with a note which I wrote (itself based on a self-answer on MathOverflow) which was rejected from the arXiv (something I didn't ...
- 24.1k
2
votes
1
answer
338
views
MO is not the place for Mochizuki news
This question
Everybody wants to know what's going on with this but we should leave it to Twitter, Reddit, blogs, etc. There is very little actual Mathematics in the discussion I linked to.
(I am ...
- 29.7k
10
votes
1
answer
938
views
About if questions in Research papers can be asked on MathOverflow
I am new to MathOverflow.
I am a master of mathematics student. I wanted to ask if questions in research papers ( regarding what I am not able to understand in the paper ) can be asked on ...
- 552
14
votes
1
answer
568
views
Are questions appropriate if they require answers to be edited in perpetuity?
A recent popular question asks about the status of a certain list of open problems. The OP answered his own question within 13 hours of asking it, and has now edited his answer 26 times, so that it is ...
- 24.2k
2
votes
1
answer
261
views
Would this question be appropriate for MathOverflow?
I asked this question in Math Stack Exchange several days ago, but I have received no interaction so far, apart from 4 upvotes. I was considering adding a bounty, but since (to my humble understanding)...
- 964
19
votes
1
answer
924
views
Is my question suitable for MO?
Around a month ago I asked a question on ME here. It was well received (got seven up votes). Sadly nobody was able to help much. To get more attention I also placed a bounty on it. Still no luck. The ...
- 211
1
vote
0
answers
156
views
Should this be moved to math.stackexchange?
I posted Lower bound on Carmichael Function
and just assumed it belonged here, but after thinking about it for some time I'm not so sure. The Carmichael function itself might be encountered by other ...
- 1,183
12
votes
1
answer
509
views
Can I ask about entry-level questions (understanding and definitions) of research-level topics?
I am currently doing a reading on Teichmuller space and I am having trouble understanding some basic definitions. So I asked these two questions on MSE first:
Understanding Teichmuller equivalence of ...
- 273
0
votes
0
answers
133
views
Would this soft question be appropriate?
A few weeks back on the Math Stack Exchange, I asked this question about "interesting" PDEs. It got (no answers and) some deserved criticism, so I opened a discussion on the Meta there and made some ...
- 3,208
11
votes
0
answers
542
views
Appropriateness of proposed question on applications of number theory in dynamical systems?
Update: the question has now been asked on the main site - Applications of number theory in dynamical systems
I am considering asking a reference-request type question on MO about significant and/or ...
- 738
21
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Publicizing conjectures on MO
This question
Positive integers written as $\binom{w}2+\binom{x}4+\binom{y}6+\binom{z}8$ with $w,x,y,z\in\{2,3,\ldots\}$
is basically just a statement of a few conjectures by the asker. The "...
- 4,915
81
votes
4
answers
25k
views
Is there a way to discuss the correctness of the proof of the RH by Atiyah in MO?
I just made a question in MO to discuss the correctness of the proof provided by Prof. Atiyah for the Riemann hypothesis (link here: Is there an error in the pre print published by Atiyah with his ...
- 515
2
votes
3
answers
244
views
Are help requests to entitle specific papers appropriate for MathOverflow?
The title of a paper has crucial importance, since when it is well thought, other researchers will have more possibilities of finding it when in need, and of wondering its content when encountered. I ...
- 2,850
0
votes
0
answers
71
views
Would this question be on topic?
I'm independently working on some research, and would like to see if there are any other papers on this topic. Can I ask a question on the main site, with a brief description of my work, to see what ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
117
views
Is this post incompatible with its tags?
Is the following question incompatible with its tags? I really do not understand the reason that some participants voted to closing this question as off topic question:
PhD dissertations that ...
- 209
22
votes
3
answers
899
views
Pronunciation questions
Every so often, I have a question about the correct pronunciation of a math term/name that I’ve only read, and the answer isn’t on Wikipedia. Some examples from my past:
“Hartshorne” (I ended up ...
- 2,981
-11
votes
1
answer
485
views
Should MO perhaps give numerological abductive questions a little more benefit of the doubt
Background:
This question is a much more specific version of a metaMO question which was deleted for some odd reason after one poster said in a comment that he agreed with everything said in the post....
- 207
2
votes
0
answers
194
views
Why was my question closed while it looks like similar questions are still open?
Recently, my question regarding a good introductory book on mathematical risk theory was closed because it was deemed off-topic and not research-level mathematics.
However, I think that multiple ...
- 3,831
2
votes
2
answers
334
views
Is there a clear rule against "check this proof" type questions?
I discovered that the meta question "Questions" of the type "I have written something, please give me feedback" from more than three years ago still does not have any answer, while ...
- 16.4k