All Questions
1,763
questions
28
votes
8
answers
1k
views
New feature - citation helper
At the request of the moderators, we have added a citation helper (based on the citation helper user script by Scott Morrison).
If you are familiar with the original script, you will note a few ...
- 101
28
votes
4
answers
1k
views
What do you want to do in Rio?
Four weeks from tomorrow (at this writing) is March 5, the deadline for submitting abstracts for Short Communications for the ICM 2018 (International Congress of Mathematicians) happening In the first ...
- 12.8k
28
votes
1
answer
968
views
Prosus' acquisition and its effect on MathOverflow
Just saw the PROSUS acquisition news of StackOverflow. Does it have any effect on MathOverflow? In what way would it help or not help MO? Thanks beforehand.
- 1,823
28
votes
2
answers
657
views
Migrating to Math.SE: too many close reasons [duplicate]
As everyone knows, we get a fair number of questions on this site that are not research level, but would be appropriate for http://math.stackexchange.com. As a frequent Math.SE user, I have an ...
- 28.5k
28
votes
2
answers
747
views
Reference to Mathoverflow
I feel a bit awkward, but my question is this: Someone asked questions on Mathoverflow and I gave answers. The whole thing was not very deep and I could provide rather standard examples to show ...
- 4,649
28
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Do your own homework
Occasionally, we get questions on main taken from old contests, such as Olympiads and Putnam exams. These questions are inappropriate for MO, and they get closed, which is as it should be. However, ...
- 37.2k
28
votes
1
answer
882
views
MO in the Notices of the AMS
On page 333 of the March 2010 issue, John Baez wrote that "MathOverflow has become a universal clearinghouse for math questions."
The March 2017 issue features an interview with Prof. Ken Ribet--the ...
- 8,472
28
votes
3
answers
712
views
When asking a question on MO it seems there's far too little information on what MO is about
When we switched from the old format to the MSE 2.0 format, almost all the information about what MO is about, and what is expected from a good question was been stripped from the site. I mean, one ...
- 41.9k
27
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What are our procedures if a user complains about harassment or abuse?
Context for this question: I am writing an article on MathOverflow for the Notices of the AMS. One thing I try to address is the apparent gender skew of our website. One of the readers of my draft ...
- 145k
27
votes
2
answers
648
views
Would newly elected moderators join the board of MathOverflow Inc.?
MathOverflow is a bit different from most of the sites in the network in that it is not operated only by Stack Exchange, but it "belongs" also to the nonprofit MathOverflow corporation.
If I ...
- 4,578
27
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Is it okay to put on your profile that you're looking for a job?
The title says it all. I do not see why it should be a problem, but I realize I have never seen anyone doing that here (or I forgot), so I ask.
- 25.4k
27
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Using MathOverflow to get new results in your research and publish them afterwards
So, MathOverflow is mainly used for posting research problems. Assume I have a research idea on which I want to write a paper. I developed it to some extent, but I am stuck somewhere and I post the ...
- 99
27
votes
2
answers
862
views
Concern about sending to academia.stackexchange
There have been two questions today with suggestions (one acted on, at time of writing) to close, with the question being better asked at academia.stackexchange: Referee reports and Covid lessons.
In ...
- 18k
27
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Explicitly pointing out math.stackexchange when (new?) users ask a question
I have recently flagged several questions for migration to math.stackexchange which were fairly clearly not about mathematics research and related topics. It was clear that in some cases these new ...
- 6,109
26
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Anonymity Policy
In view of recent events, we've been reconsidering having some policy against anonymous users. We've always encouraged users to use real names though we have been tolerant of pseudonymous and ...
- 43.1k
26
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Should we have new moderator elections?
Mathoverflow has seven moderators, but many of them seem to be inactive (at least from the point of view of an unprivileged user): for instance, they are not active on meta, and they moderated few ...
- 18.4k
26
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Has the switch to SE 2.0 increased the rate of low-level / inappropriate questions?
I would be curious to know whether, now that links to MO appear in the footer of every SE 2.0 site, and in the "hot questions" list of the Stack Exchange button, the rate of inappropriate questions ...
- 6,692
26
votes
4
answers
776
views
Which Latex / MathJax features do we need or want to have supported on the site?
As we've started discussing, Stack Exchange is planning to redo the editor for all questions and answers across all their sites. As articulated by Emilio Pisanty, these changes will have significant ...
Tim CampionMod
- 55.4k
26
votes
4
answers
7k
views
On using MathJax to create 'white space'
The purpose of this post is, first, to raise awareness (as this, reasonably, might not be clear) that the way some (and it seems to me the number is growing) use MathJax to create 'white space' (or to ...
user9072
26
votes
1
answer
829
views
Should I start posting my questions on MO?
I have been a member of MO and of math.SE for a long time now. My participation in MO has been mainly lurking because I am not a researcher but a student who aims to become one. So, logically, I have ...
- 2,854
26
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Should users be shown some basic information before posting the first question? [duplicate]
In an answer to another question discussing possibilities how to decrease the number of off-topic questions1 it was mentioned that: Perhaps we should force a person to read the rules before posting ...
- 4,578
26
votes
1
answer
369
views
Opt out of the new upvote/downvote buttons?
I guess most of you have noticed by now the new upvote/downvote buttons. This seems to be in line with all the other SE sites (though I admit I haven't checked each and every one of them).
Does MO ...
- 6,469
26
votes
0
answers
607
views
The color of links in comments
In the following image, depicting a piece of a comment on MO.se
the words «this link» are a link to some URL, yet the styling makes it quite not apparent; the only styling I can see is a ...
25
votes
25
answers
3k
views
Help cleanup tags!
This is meant to agglomerate tags that need (occasional or regular) cleanup. That is tags that mean multiple unrelated things and need to be separated into more specific tags. Please follow the ...
25
votes
2
answers
1k
views
My question has already been asked, but not really answered? What should I do?
I have a question I am curious about: call it $Q$.
There exists a posted question $P$ on MO which asks my question $Q$. More precisely, $P$ states a series of (slightly vague) questions, one of ...
- 26.2k
25
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Community Peer-Review in Mathoverflow
I was recently surfing around the Physicsoverflow and I have to admit I was impressed by their Review section. I could not help myself from thinking how -and if- such a feature could also be ...
- 7,468
25
votes
1
answer
826
views
Why is the update so awesome?
I mean, we really don't deserve it. It's awesome. Good work everyone, high-fives all around. Cheers (for those of you from across the pond, so-to-speak).
- 9,855
25
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Updated: Is it time to replace links to the UCDavis arXiv frontend?
This question from March 2020 points out that many questions/answers link to papers at the http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/ frontend instead of at the arXiv itself, but that the frontend had been down a ...
- 17.2k
25
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why is “MathOverflow” spelled without a space when “Stack Overflow” is spelled with a space?
I assumed the name of our site “MathOverflow” is derived from the name “Stack Overflow” of the first and largest site that used the same base software (Stack Exchange). Is this so?
If it is, then ...
- 1,892
25
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Examples of mathematical exposition arising from MO answers
I could imagine that several very long Mathoverflow answers have eventually turned into expository papers. For example, I have posted this (unpublished) expository paper on the arxiv about various ...
- 25.5k
25
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Using Math Overflow to check whether or not a proof is correct
A user named Jürgen Böhm recently posted two questions which boiled down to checking whether or not his proof is correct. I left a comment on the second one saying that I don't think this is ...
- 24.7k
25
votes
2
answers
816
views
Kitty can’t fix it — Old questions inaccessible for logged-in users, giving “unexpected error”
For the past few days, any attempt to access the question Collecting proofs that finite multiplicative subgroups of fields are cyclic results in an internal server error:
It seems the poor kitten ...
- 41.6k
25
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Slight downward trend in Q & A
I thought MO users might be interested in this graph constructed by
Neal Young in
a discussion at meta.cstheory
about the more pronounced downward trend in cstheory.
It shows MO Q&A activity ...
- 147k
25
votes
1
answer
808
views
"Is this a known/interesting result?"-type questions
Are questions of the form "Is this a known result?" and "Is this an interesting result?" legitimate for MO?
I have sometimes found myself staring at results that were new to me and unsure whether ...
- 525
25
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Jean-Christophe Yoccoz
I've heard today that Jean-Christophe Yoccoz passed two days ago:
Le mathématicien français Jean-Christophe Yoccoz, médaille Fields, est mort [archived], Libération, 05.09.2016.
I think people would ...
- 7,913
25
votes
2
answers
968
views
Request from PRIMES to keep an eye out for their problems
On m.SE last year there was a problem with someone cheating on the entrance problem set for the PRIMES high school research program at MIT. Selection for PRIMES for this year has begun, and they're ...
- 27.3k
25
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Unregistered Users (in Theory and in Practice)
There's been past discussion (e.g. here) about whether MathOverflow should allow posts from unregistered users. I am fully on board with the apparent consensus that the answer is yes, because of the ...
- 21.5k
24
votes
5
answers
2k
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 ...
- 7,703
24
votes
2
answers
883
views
Statistics showing that more reputation for questions leads to better questions
One of the more controversial aspects of the transition to MO2.0, for myself at least, was the reduction in the reputation added for upvotes on questions asked from +10 to +5, while retaining the ...
- 21.7k
24
votes
2
answers
1k
views
MO policy regarding pseudonyms that are other people's real name
I have noticed just now that a user has chosen as pseudonym "Alexander Grothendieck", which I'm a bit unconfortable with (the probability that it is also that user's name is extremely low, hence my ...
- 2,821
24
votes
2
answers
758
views
Revisiting our policies on thank-you comments
Despite the little notice in the comments section telling us that comments along the lines of 'thank you' aren't welcome because they don't move the discussion forward mathematically, I have always ...
- 8,294
24
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How to handle crankery on MathOverflow 2.0?
On the previous MO we had a thread on Tea called "crank post to flag as spam" in which crank posts were pointed out so people could flag them as spam and have them deleted.
Seeing how we are now ...
- 37.1k
24
votes
4
answers
796
views
What is the deal with changes to the front page?
It appears that today Stack Exchange has changed the appearance of the MathOverflow front page. It now looks more similar to Stack Overflow. The most noticeable change is that the counts of answers, ...
Tim CampionMod
- 55.4k
24
votes
2
answers
680
views
How can I customize site in my browser to get "old feel" look of MathOverflow?
It seems that some of the users are not too happy with the new design and prefer the old look.
I will admit that I have not much experience with this stuff, but from I've read on various meta sites ...
- 4,578
24
votes
1
answer
998
views
I can't understand the answers
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 ...
- 233
24
votes
1
answer
1k
views
"A year in moderation" post on MathOverflow?
You might have noticed than many Stack Exchange sites have some statistics about both community moderation and moderators' activity posted on meta under the title "2018: a year in moderation". Here is ...
- 4,578
23
votes
4
answers
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, ...
Todd TrimbleMod
- 51.6k
23
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Are professional Physicists, Computer Scientists, Engineers, Economists... not allowed to ask questions at MO?
"MathOverflow is a question and answer site for professional mathematicians."
May other professional researchers ask questions at MO? Should they check their credentials at the door?
If not, and ...
- 101
23
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Homework and migrating to math.se
As many people have noticed, one of the main functions of math.se is to be a place for students to get other people to do their homework for them. Obviously we do not want to facilitate such cheating....
- 41.2k
23
votes
4
answers
993
views
What makes you vote to close a question?
Some recent exchanges and observations suggest to me that users not only have different thresholds for voting to close a question yet still applying the same criteria, but that they even apply so ...
user9072