97
votes
Accepted
Is there a way to discuss the correctness of the proof of the RH by Atiyah in MO?
After some internal discussion, the moderators have agreed to post the following text.
There are calls from the community to enunciate a firm and consistent policy for what questions are permissible ...
- 7,430
53
votes
A StackExchange website aimed at graduate students?
I believe it is impossible in general to distinguish questions asked by a graduate student and those asked by a mathematician in a domain in which they are not specialist. Since the latter are ...
- 26.5k
36
votes
Is there a way to discuss the correctness of the proof of the RH by Atiyah in MO?
I will take a different viewpoint than some and say that the correctness of the proof can be discussed, and maybe it should. But as to how, that's a question of tactfulness and precision.
When ...
- 5,475
31
votes
Appropriateness of recent LIGO question for MO
It seems that the moderators' opinions are not unified on this question, so I will offer my view wearing my private citizen hat.
The question asks how various parameters of an apparent black hole ...
S. CarnahanMod
- 44.3k
31
votes
Publicizing conjectures on MO
The approach which seems to be throwing every conjecture conceivable on the wall and see 'what sticks' should be discouraged, IMHO.
There is also a difference between conjectures and conjectures. I ...
- 15.3k
30
votes
On discussion of published papers at MO
A scientific paper is like a politician --- much of its reputation is based on hearsay, and superficial impression, not on cold analytic examination. Very few have willingness and time to investigate ...
- 7,666
30
votes
Accepted
About if questions in Research papers can be asked on MathOverflow
I'd say that this is a bit of a grey area. If you want to ask a question of this type then you should prepare it carefully: do your best to isolate the specific point that you are confused about, ...
- 52.4k
29
votes
Questions, answers, comments or discussions on aspects of politics relevant to mathematicians on MathOverflow (main or meta)
I think the US-style culture war is moving to Math and STEM fields. Looking at what happened in the social sciences, I can not say I am optimistic about the future, especially since mathematicians are ...
- 30.1k
26
votes
Appropriate or not: "To what extent are the results in Paper X correct?"
One approach is to find a different stakeholder: see who cites the paper and uses the result. Then ask them if they are interested in your counterexample. If they are responsive, they may give you ...
- 12.8k
26
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On discussion of published papers at MO
This meta question is phrased as a general question about the appropriateness of discussing published papers on MO. That's a fair question, but I think that it's actually quite a different question ...
- 72.9k
25
votes
early graduate level questions: MO or Math.SE?
The official help page at https://mathoverflow.net/help/on-topic says
MathOverflow's primary goal is for users to ask and answer research
level math questions, the sorts of questions you come ...
- 52.4k
25
votes
Policy toward GPT-generated conjectures?
I don't think it is worth having a policy for one post, or even a few. We already have a small, regular stream of elementary number theory questions to which one can provide good heuristics using ...
- 145k
24
votes
Questions about correctness of published papers
At Ryan Budney's request, here is my comment converted to an answer.
If the paper is more than a handful of years old, and you can either: point to a specific potential issue with the argument; or ...
- 20.7k
23
votes
Appropriate or not: "To what extent are the results in Paper X correct?"
I propose to ask it as follows: In my view such a question written clearly is suitable for MO.
A question about X's paper on Y
The main theorem of X's paper on Y is
"quote (precisely) and if ...
- 24.1k
23
votes
Is there a way to discuss the correctness of the proof of the RH by Atiyah in MO?
I don't think there's any good solutions here, but I am going to suggest what I think is the least bad solution, and people can vote on whether it is a good idea or not. There are going to be lots of ...
- 6,579
22
votes
Accepted
Cross posts to Math SE
If you have posted a question at MSE and want to cross-post it at MO or the other way around, you can do it under the following conditions:
Wait several days, not just hours. I would suggest a week.
...
- 7,703
20
votes
Appropriateness of recent LIGO question for MO
My view is that what should count is the (academic/scientific interest) times (the amount of mathematics involved). So if the academic interest is huge and the mathematical component is modest we ...
- 24.1k
20
votes
Accepted
Can I ask a question on MathOverflow and also on another site?
Cross-posting is discouraged in general, because it can lead to duplication of effort by people answering on different sites. However, it is appropriate under some circumstances.
Most of the advice ...
Tim CampionMod
- 55.4k
18
votes
Appropriateness of recent LIGO question for MO
I find it difficult to understand many of the comments and concerns that this question seems to have raised. The site has a fairly simple and well established procedure for closing/keeping open ...
- 42.9k
17
votes
Humans, Go, Computers, Math
In addition to my comment that the thread is too "discussion-y" (meaning too opinion or speculation driven), my feeling about this question is that there is probably no one in our community who can ...
Todd TrimbleMod
- 51.6k
17
votes
How is it off-topic to ask whether the normalization of a local complete intersection is Gorenstein?
As one of the users who casted a vote to close, I guess I should provide an answer.
What I did not like was the lack of effort displayed in the question. The question in itself could be fine: it is ...
- 9,750
17
votes
Questions about correctness of published papers
The linked question can be equivalently reformulated as "what specifically is the gap in Aubin's paper that Paul Ehrlich alludes to?", and this is certainly acceptable - I don't see how it ...
- 7,753
16
votes
May I know why is my question on hold when it is clearly research-level?
I will do my best to give an honest interpretation of what is happening here, with the caveat that cutting-edge research into FLT is not within my range of expertise. (Disclaimer: I didn't vote up or ...
Todd TrimbleMod
- 51.6k
16
votes
Questions, answers, comments or discussions on aspects of politics relevant to mathematicians on MathOverflow (main or meta)
Allowing these sorts of questions would be a significant increase in scope for the site, and I don't think we're prepared to handle it.
The basic question for me is: what sorts of disputes are likely ...
- 27.9k
15
votes
On discussion of published papers at MO
I think Joseph O'Rourke meant to say something else. I will guess that something like
the following is intended.
MathOverflow is not a forum for judging, critiquing, or refereeing preprints or ...
15
votes
"Newbie-style" questions: is there an "official" viewpoint of MO?
A question my be trivial for a specialist in a field, or even for those who have studied the field. But the same question may be non-trivial for a mathematician who is not a specialist in THIS FIELD, ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible