Timeline for Are math-textbook-style problems on topic?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 30 at 2:25 | comment | added | qwr | You just chose an arbitrary point on what you consider easy/expected and what you don't. I'm pretty sure the 10 numbers on a blackboard is a straightfoward problem in competition math and programming circles that pretty much everyone knows. Like on a contest it would be one of the "textbook" questions. So now it's off-topic because it's too well-known?? | |
| Mar 8 at 19:34 | comment | added | xamid | My questions (1.) and (2.) were closed for this reason. They are about using a specific form of statement to obtain arguments from it. This answer says "but that they use standard, staightforward methods that anyone familiar with the subject is expected to know".. which totally does not apply to these.. otherwise I wouldn't have asked those questions here. The proof system in question is a big mystery, and nobody knows so far, how to tackle it towards a broader range of conclusions. How to reopen? | |
| May 28, 2019 at 18:50 | history | edited | JMP | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
typo
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:50 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
replaced http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/ with https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/
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| Apr 14, 2016 at 17:26 | comment | added | klm123 | note that math textbook things and theorems are what was the most beautiful and practical puzzles for our predecessors (and children). Many math theorems still are very good puzzles (with clever and elegant solution), for those who doesn't know them. | |
| Feb 18, 2015 at 0:20 | comment | added | user20 | @xnor In that case, there's actually a specific reason why SE doesn't usually open migration paths. It prevents the syndrome of "well, we don't really want it, and it's sort of a math problem, so here, you guys deal with it." (This happens all too frequently with current migration paths.) See also: meta.stackexchange.com/a/203326/206222 | |
| Feb 18, 2015 at 0:14 | comment | added | xnor | @Emrakul If you think it would help make consensus, I think it would be worth trying out. An option to migrate to math.SE would also be nice. | |
| Feb 18, 2015 at 0:06 | comment | added | user20 | @xnor That's fair, though the people who don't want their questions closed will be unhappy either way. The reason I suggest this is because it may be a place to start; the community thinks math problems shouldn't be on topic, and this might help develop better consensus. | |
| Feb 17, 2015 at 23:56 | comment | added | xnor | @Emrakul So, I think it would suffice for most cases, but would also lead to some unhappy arguments when people disagree, or when people don't want to see their question closed. | |
| Feb 17, 2015 at 21:19 | comment | added | user20 | I've been thinking: if we were to add a 'math problem' close reason, would "I know it when I see it" be sufficient? | |
| Jan 14, 2015 at 23:29 | comment | added | xnor | @Gilles I think that's from the dark ages of the site and hasn't been true lately. People have been aggressively downvoting bad answers. | |
| Jan 14, 2015 at 19:36 | comment | added | Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' | A major problem with math questions is that they sometimes get spectacularly bad yet high-scoring answers. If we aren't capable of making the correct answers stand out and getting the bad answers to a negative score, we have no business answering math questions. | |
| Jan 14, 2015 at 11:36 | comment | added | Peter Taylor | I think you've failed to draw a distinction. At least two of the four examples you claim as puzzles are standard textbook questions to test comprehension of the material, and all of them could be used for that purpose. | |
| Jan 14, 2015 at 11:27 | history | edited | xnor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Fixed problem.
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| Jan 14, 2015 at 2:32 | comment | added | xnor | @Emrakul Please do write an answer. I think I have the same feeling, but don't really know how to explain what makes a solution procedural. | |
| Jan 14, 2015 at 2:12 | comment | added | user20 | I might posit that a well-known procedural solution makes something a math problem, while a little-known or self-discovered solution makes something a puzzle. (Edit: I may turn this into an answer.) | |
| Jan 13, 2015 at 23:48 | history | answered | xnor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |