All Questions
1,806
questions
24
votes
1
answer
884
views
Policy toward GPT-generated conjectures?
The recent MO post, A number theoretic conjecture by Chat GPT, posed a conjecture that was generated by ChatGPT. In my opinion, it was not a particularly interesting conjecture. For me at least, the ...
- 75.8k
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 ...
- 37.5k
24
votes
4
answers
802
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
- 56.7k
24
votes
2
answers
689
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 ...
- 4,588
24
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Editing etiquette
What are some general guidelines for editing a MathOverflow post? Are there some "do"s and "don't"s I should know about?
(The material that was previously in this question box has been moved to an ...
Todd TrimbleMod
- 51.8k
24
votes
1
answer
1k
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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 ...
- 4,588
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
- 51.8k
23
votes
4
answers
2k
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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
4
answers
2k
views
Editing titles to include $\mathfrak{LaTeX \; Math}$
Should question titles, which sometimes intentionally avoid LaTeX math for those who choose faster rendering, be edited to insist upon LaTeX math? A recent instance that prompted my question is "two ...
- 148k
23
votes
4
answers
997
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
23
votes
1
answer
741
views
Update on "Who owns my MathOverflow posts?"
I saw the question previously asked in:
Who owns my MathOverflow posts?
Unfortunately, I was not able to get a clear answer by reading the responses to that question, as other people had commented ...
- 3,061
23
votes
3
answers
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 ...
- 17.2k
23
votes
3
answers
910
views
How can I donate to MathOverflow — if I should?
I understood from this meta question that MathOverflow is a nonprofit nonstock corporation dedicated to keeping this site running and that the nonprofit status allows receiving donations.
What is the ...
- 7,753
23
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Asking a question you know the answer to, but not answering
There has been an apparent case where the question poster asked a question that had been answered in their own paper from about 10 years before the question. This would not be a problem if the ...
- 4,901
23
votes
1
answer
3k
views
My question was closed on MO because it is not research level. Where should I ask instead?
If a question is closed (put on hold) on MathOverflow as off-topic for not being research level-question, but it is still a question about mathematics. What might be a suitable place for such question?...
23
votes
2
answers
824
views
Can the clutter of obviously off-topic questions be removed faster?
I have noticed a number of blatantly off-topic questions that hang around for a long time despite heavy down-voting and calls for removal by senior users. I found somewhere on the site (although I can'...
- 2,417
23
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Questions which are research level but where the OP is unlikely to have the background to follow the research
There is a type of question which gets closed a lot which I find frustrating. An example is How to compute the volume of a region transformed by a matrix? , which I recently took the liberty of ...
- 148k
23
votes
1
answer
488
views
If I see spam together with mathematical content in an answer, should I edit out the spam?
The title almost says it all, except that I should say that 'spam' here has the strict meaning where a vendor inserts a unsolicited link to a page that advertises or sells a product.
There may be ...
Todd TrimbleMod
- 51.8k
23
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Does Mathoverflow really want the 'Publicist' badge?
I enjoy the rewards system on the Stack exchange network. I learned some time ago that you can easily earn gold badges on all sites by picking the most interesting questions and using the "Share" ...
- 3,301
23
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Should MathOverflow require registration to ask a question?
Probably anybody visiting this site regularly noticed that quite often there are posts which are not at MO-level and quite frequently also of very low quality. (Many of them are simply copy-paste of ...
- 4,588
23
votes
1
answer
656
views
Why are MO accounts not listed among other SE accounts?
When I go look at my accounts in SE network, mathoverflow is not listed there. (You can get to the list of accounts, for example, from your profile page. Other SE accounts are listed on profile page.) ...
- 4,588
23
votes
1
answer
535
views
Drive-By Deletion of Answer to Own Question by Moderator
I'm a bit confused by some moderator action. I posted a question asking for a direct proof of a certain fact. A superb answer was provided by Jochen Glueck. (Thanks again!)
I came across another proof ...
- 145
23
votes
2
answers
847
views
Crazy idea about soft questions
I was thinking the other day about big list and other soft questions and had the following crazy idea.
It seems to me that what we want is to occasionally have good soft questions. The main thing ...
- 27.5k
23
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Why was my dissenting viewpoint in a post about diversity censored?
In a question about special lectures for the ICM, the following answer proposed that a lecture on how to make the mathematical field more diverse be given. The answer contains some rather bold ...
- 1,018
23
votes
1
answer
704
views
Tea archive (mathoverflow.tqft.net) seems to be down
It seems that the link http://mathoverflow.tqft.net/ (which, according to this announcement, serves as an archive of the old tea, i.e. the previous incarnation of MathOverflow Meta) no longer works.
...
- 4,588
23
votes
2
answers
875
views
Featured MO questions on the hot list: what benefits, if any, do these bring?
“Measures to separate MO from the rest of the stackexchange network”, and various other recent meta questions, have discussed (among other things) opting out of the stackexchange-wide hot list.
I’ve ...
- 18.5k
23
votes
0
answers
913
views
Upcoming election announcement (2022)
It has been quite some time since the last moderator election, and we decided that it would be a good idea to hold one soon.
This is just a preliminary announcement to let you know that this is going ...
- 37.5k
23
votes
0
answers
965
views
Request to keep an eye out for PROMYS admissions problems
Many of you may be familiar with PROMYS, a camp based out of Boston University which teaches number theory to high school students each summer. Students applying to the program are asked to submit ...
- 148k
23
votes
0
answers
743
views
Should "The probability for a streak when tossing a coin" be reopened?
The question "The probability for a streak when tossing a coin" is on hold. [Edit: It has been reopened.] I disagree with closing the question and voted to reopen.
This problem may sound like it is ...
- 27.7k
22
votes
13
answers
2k
views
2021 Moderator election: suggestions for nominees?
As you may have seen, the nominations for the 2021 moderator election will be open on March 29. Per StackExchange rules, MO users are expected to nominate themselves for the election. For some ...
- 43k
22
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Measures to separate math overflow from the rest of the stack exchange network
It seems that there is a widespread concern about the influence that in many ways the switch to the stack exchange network has on this site. I infer this from the many questions on meta on this ...
- 25.5k
22
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....
- 41.8k
22
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Answering not research level questions
I just commented the solution to a question that was obviously not research level. Then I deleted the solution again since providing it might encourage people to again asking such questions.
...
- 3,211
22
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Question about $i$ versus $-i$
I vaguely recall that some years ago, there was an MO question about how to distinguish between the complex numbers $i$ and $-i$, and in what sense this might be meaningful.
I also recall that I ...
- 22.2k
22
votes
3
answers
911
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 ...
- 3,001
22
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What is MathOverflow's "agreement" with Stack Exchange?
On June 24, 2013, MathOverflow signed an agreement with Stack Exchange, Inc., to migrate the original site to the newer Stack Exchange 2.0 platform and join the Stack Exchange network.
François G. ...
- 1,317
22
votes
4
answers
755
views
Customize the modal window for the first-time askers [duplicate]
When a user asks their very first question on a Stack Exchange site, they are shown a modal window with a short advice. The content can be either a generic message or it can be customized for a ...
- 4,588
22
votes
1
answer
702
views
Why are we now getting 'hot network questions'?
I notice that we are now getting a bar listing hot questions from across the SE network. I thought we'd settled for no cross-site advertising in MO2.0.
- 32.9k
22
votes
1
answer
714
views
Should OEIS links be updated?
Historic links to the OEIS are of the form http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A097048. These links no longer work: Neil has retired from AT&T, and in the meantime has set up the OEIS ...
22
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Encouraging new users to provide a name or a nickname
After the transition to MO 2.0, I noticed an increased influx of anonymous users, with user names like user####. Of course, people can have all kinds of reasons to ...
- 19.4k
22
votes
1
answer
1k
views
One person creating multiple Riemann Hypothesis-related accounts
I have been flagging these posts individually, but I thought maybe a meta question would be a good follow-up, in case the moderators are not aware of the behaviour. As @YemonChoi points out, the ...
- 10.3k
22
votes
2
answers
2k
views
MathOverflow @ ICM2014 : We Want You!
This post will raise several questions/issues on which I want
community feedback.
Background: Inspired by Tim Post's offer
Mugs, Stickers And Shirts - Now With 100% More MathOverflow! , I++ decided ...
- 3,199
22
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why do we link to Twitter, Facebook or Google+ below every question?
I edit this old feature request of mine, in the hope that mentality have evolved and some consensus can be reached and some action be taken:
After each question on MO (with no answers yet), we can ...
- 25.5k
22
votes
0
answers
211
views
Questions containing my "favorite tags" are barely distinguishable
I liked the fact that in MO v1, any question which contained one of my list of favorite tags was noticably highlighted (a brown-orange color, if I remember correctly).
In the new version, such ...
- 26.4k
21
votes
5
answers
2k
views
What should be the policy on "open problems" on MO?
The subject of this discussion are questions on "open problems" on MO.
There is an existing policy on "open problems" reproduced from the (old) FAQs, which involves an open-problem tag.
The ...
user9072
21
votes
1
answer
862
views
Will ads appear on MO?
It looks like the Stack Exchange network is trying to monetize the various stack sites as much as possible, to the dismay of users across the board.
Will this affect MO?
If I recall correctly we ...
- 8,768
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 "...
- 5,732
21
votes
3
answers
904
views
Is there a consensus on whether history of mathematics questions are acceptable on MO?
I recently stumbled across an old meta discussion in which some people suggested that history of mathematics questions were off-topic for MO. This took me by surprise and I would like to ask for ...
- 75.8k
21
votes
2
answers
1k
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Ignoring certain users' postings
This old post on meta stackexchange contains a script that hides posts from users of your choice. There were some negative comments there and the script doesn't seem to be working anymore (maybe ...
- 30.1k