Questions tagged [on-topic]
For discussions and questions on the appropriateness (for the main site) of a question or a certain type of question.
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questions
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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 ...
11
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1answer
413 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 ...
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0answers
127 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 ...
12
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0answers
531 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 ...
21
votes
4answers
1k 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 "...
80
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4answers
23k 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 ...
2
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3answers
232 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 ...
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0answers
69 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 ...
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0answers
114 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 ...
22
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3answers
732 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 ...
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1answer
461 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....
2
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0answers
189 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 ...
2
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2answers
237 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 ...
10
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1answer
581 views
Is MO the place to explore whether a problem has been considered or solved by mathematicians?
I am a university AP and I like composing problems (not for kids, not for practice). Oftentimes I don't know whether or not the problem has been considered or solved by other mathematicians. Is ...
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1answer
195 views
“The Devil and Simon Flagg” in Квант
Did any of you ever read the translation into Russian of A. Porges' "The Devil and Simon Flagg" which was featured in the magazine Квант once? If so, could you tell me the issue in which it appeared?
...
23
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3answers
1k views
“Newbie-style” questions: is there an “official” viewpoint of MO?
(Neil Strickland provided a link to early graduate level questions: MO or Math.SE? which more or less answers this, so I have marked it as a duplicate)
Every now and then I encounter questions which ...
1
vote
1answer
663 views
A remark on the abc conjecture
It went/goes something like this:
"It [the abc conjecture] resembles a false proposition in that A GREAT DEAL of results would follow from its veracity".
I may have read it in the comments of a ...
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1answer
437 views
May I know why is my question on hold when it is clearly research-level?
This is my question
https://mathoverflow.net/questions/262039/central-properties-of-the-integers-mathbbz-over-other-structures-with-sum
I think the question is clear enough and it is easy to ...
4
votes
0answers
206 views
Thread for asking about suitability of math.SE question on MO?
Often there are questions of the type: "I have posted this question on math.SE. No satisfactory answer so far. Would this question be suitable for MathOverflow?"
People ask this in various places:
...
3
votes
1answer
194 views
“what is” type questions
is it acceptable to put questions of the type "what does ... mean?" or "what is ...?" on MathOverflow. For example?
what is the moduli space of higgs bundles?
what is a Picard-Viessot extension?
...
2
votes
1answer
200 views
What about talking about life? How to work, manage, organize, and so forth?
My question comes from a general an recurrent observation on MO (and more generally in the real academic life):
doing research (in mathematics) is a whole ecosystem, full of different tasks and ...
37
votes
4answers
2k views
A StackExchange website aimed at graduate students?
There has been a lot of discussion about questions that do not get answered on MSE, but are not considered 'research level' on MO and thus get closed. The problem seems to be that certain questions ...
34
votes
1answer
989 views
How is it off-topic to ask whether the normalization of a local complete intersection is Gorenstein?
This question (which I did not ask) is whether the normalization of a local complete intersection domain is Gorenstein. Why was this closed as "off-topic"? Especially when this one, which asks ...
0
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1answer
214 views
Why is my question on hold?
Why is this question fine, but mine is put on hold? They seem to be very similar questions? Or is there some distinction that I'm not getting?
13
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1answer
971 views
Humans, Go, Computers, Math
This is the meta thread for What advantage humans have over computers in mathematics?
It was closed, got reopened and reclosed, and reopened again.
In an effort to close the barn before the horse ...
49
votes
3answers
1k views
Appropriate or not: “To what extent are the results in Paper X correct?”
I have found a counterexample to the main theorem of a 20-year-old paper. The paper does not seem to be well known but it was written by reputable mathematicians and published in a highly regarded ...
23
votes
4answers
2k views
Appropriateness of recent LIGO question for MO
There had been numerous comments under the question Recent observation of gravitational waves that discuss whether it is appropriate for MathOverflow. That discussion is properly a concern of MO meta, ...
2
votes
2answers
585 views
On the viXra question
Should Hard maths on viXra? be reopened?
Is it appropriate for the site?
Why or why not?
3
votes
0answers
395 views
Is this (“Is this a good research question?”) a good MathOverflow question?
I apologize if this has been covered before. A cursory search of meta.mathoverflow does not reveal it.
There are reasons not to make research topics public. (I have some topics that I am not ready ...
2
votes
0answers
698 views
Can I ask this question here?
I recently posted this question on Math Stack Exchange, in which I asked for a published reference containing the proof of a certain fact. What I got instead was a very rough outline of a proof. I've ...
3
votes
1answer
519 views
Cross posts to Math SE
Are cross posts to Math SE allowed? As in almost exactly the same text, just posted there. Of course the sites are meant for difference things, but still just wondering. And if yes, should one link ...
1
vote
1answer
190 views
Why is my question on martingales off-topic and not migrated?
Here is my question: https://mathoverflow.net/questions/225181/show-that-ex-t-t-infty-le-ex-0-and-cp-sup-x-n-ge-c-le-ex-0
I said in the beginning to please migrate if needed. Could it be on-topic ...
8
votes
1answer
382 views
Is asking question from graduate books allowed
Is it ok to ask questions from books like Probabilistic Method by Noga Alon, the * marked ones, since they are tough questions but not exactly research level questions.
I had already asked this ...
6
votes
1answer
368 views
Are interdisciplinary questions about mathematics of musical instruments on-topic here?
I have some mathematical questions that lie between music and mathematics, particularly applications of mathematics in building musical instruments.
As an example see this paper: The Mathematics of ...
32
votes
2answers
2k views
early graduate level questions: MO or Math.SE?
When I first began on this site MathOverflow took questions at all levels. Then Math.SE was created and the level of MO has crept up steadily with Math.SE not necessarily absorbing the remainder ...
5
votes
1answer
154 views
Literature Requests & Opinions: Conventions At MO
Background: Having failed to solve a general problem that I posted more than a year ago on mathoverflow.net, I have now resorted to numerical methods (involving finite probability distributions) . ...
9
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0answers
380 views
Questions on Mathematical Writing
Where should I ask about how to approach Mathematical paper writing? For example, the question [How to write an abstract for a math paper? ] was put on hold? Which stack exchange site should I have ...
4
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0answers
280 views
Is this measure theory question suitable for MO?
A moderator at Mathematics StackExchange asks if this question would be suitable for migration to MO: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1331258/using-a-sequence-of-measures-to-create-simple-...
47
votes
4answers
3k views
On discussion of published papers at MO
There is an interesting discussion taking place at MO over the suitability of this question: Complex structure on $S^6$ gets published in Journ. Math. Phys. The question is about the correctness of a ...
9
votes
1answer
498 views
A (type of) question which falls between MO and academia.SE?
This question Style of mathematical writing vs. too many lemmas seems like it may get closed. I am somewhat torn as to whether it should stay open or be closed (and so I have neither voted up nor down ...
3
votes
2answers
158 views
Appropriate to ask question regarding choice of “magma” to describe simple algebraic structures?
I just started reading Bourbaki's Algebra, and posed a question regarding the choice of the word "magma" (which I came across on the first page of Bourbaki) on History of Science and Mathematics SE.
...
0
votes
1answer
209 views
Will this question be suitable for MO?
Recently I have asked two questions in MSE regarding the simultaneous solutions of the following inequalities:
$$x+y>p_{\pi(x)}+p_{\pi(y)+1}\tag{1}$$$$x+y>p_{\pi(y)}+p_{\pi(x)+1}\tag{2}.$$
My ...
4
votes
1answer
116 views
Is it possible to Un-migrate a question?
I was not sure at first, but I think this question migrated from MO to MSE has been underestimated, and would receive better answers from MO users. It is related to another question (which was well ...
2
votes
3answers
252 views
Is asking for good review papers a good question?
I think that generally speaking asking for papers might be a non-research issue. If it's merely a google issue, then it shouldn't be in MO.
What about Survey/Review papers? Obviously those are hard ...
4
votes
0answers
640 views
I want to post a question on MathOverflow, but is it suitable?
I posted a question "A question on the remainders of integer division" on Mathematics one week ago. There is not any answer until now.
I do not think it is a question of professional level, but it ...
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votes
1answer
597 views
Is it appropriate to ask why a textbook on nonlinear algebra not well known?
I am wondering if it would be worthwhile to ask why a certain textbook and/or its authors (Dolotin and Morozov) are not well known.
From the description of the book:
This unique text presents the ...
22
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5answers
1k views
How should we react to the existence of Math Educators SE?
As was previously announced at meta, there is now an SE site for mathematics education (MESE).
My broad questions is this: Should we react to this somehow?
(More specific questions are below.)
Does ...
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votes
2answers
480 views
Proposed question: In the math history books of the future, what will be written about the years 1960-2010?
I was reading Stillwell's book, Mathematics and its History, and it got me thinking about how research developments in the last two decades (i.e. history for us too, except recent) would be "narrated"....
13
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0answers
527 views
Is this question appropriate for MO? (Recognizing cohomological ideas)
About two weeks ago I asked this question on MSE: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1085946/when-should-i-be-doing-cohomology. (Short version: what are some ways I can tell that some sort of ...
10
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0answers
406 views
Is it appropriate to post question asking to prove NP-completness of more than one problem?
I believe that I discovered a method to generate several NP-complete problems. The NP-completeness proof is not immediately apparent to me. I did not find any reference in complexity literature to my ...
