Timeline for How should questions tagged "solution-verification" be answered? [duplicate]
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 6, 2021 at 13:18 | comment | added | amWhy | Thanks, @Jyrki, I was looking for your post. | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 6:17 | history | closed |
amWhy José Carlos Santos nmasanta Calvin Khor Arctic Char |
Duplicate of The problem with proof verification | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 5:26 | history | became hot meta post | |||
| Jul 6, 2021 at 5:10 | comment | added | Jyrki Lahtonen | A problem with an answer consisting of an alternative solution is that the underlying question is often a duplicate. At least those alternative solutions often are. I elaborated on my views here. Of course, opinions differ on how much duplication is tolerable. I am leaning towards allowing very little by veterans of the site, but to be more forgiving to a relative newcomer, who has had less time to grasp how well this site actually has covered most of the basic questions. | |
| Jul 6, 2021 at 1:45 | comment | added | Calvin Khor | A point no doubt already covered in one of the above links: If the proof is suffiiciently complicated, then even the ‘optimal’ proof can be helped by giving a birds eye view/proof sketch that tries to clarify the important parts, like where certain assumptions are needed and how the proof fails when those are relaxed. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 22:40 | answer | added | lulu | timeline score: 8 | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 22:06 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 6, 2021 at 6:33 | |||||
| Jul 5, 2021 at 21:53 | comment | added | amWhy | @lulu Not at all extreme! solution to my question exceeds my knowledge. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 21:51 | comment | added | amWhy | See also: proof-verification types of questions | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 21:50 | comment | added | amWhy | Related: Is this correct? Questions. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 21:31 | comment | added | user1729 | I think situations where "the solution that they give is flawless" are rare, and we should acknowledge this and not have a policy for it. Proofs can usually be shortened or insight can be shared, whilst keeping with the flavour of their original proof (e.g. "you could have shortened that step by doing this"). So try and find some grumble or even something to complement. (I dislike both other options: people saying "yes your proof is correct, now here's mine!" makes the original solution/question inconsequential, while answers saying "yes, this is correct" are low effort & frustrating.) | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:58 | comment | added | amWhy | That might be what you think is more likely, but I don't think so, So we are both conjecturing, but the example I spoke of has happened, and too many times. Potentially such questions/answerers work. But it is not our place to replace students instructors, nor publication reviews by professional people in the precise field pertaining to the asker. I'm afraid there are too many users reviewing posts who may not realize their own limits, or those of the OP. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:52 | comment | added | lulu | @amWhy That seems like a rather extreme scenario, no? Surely the more likely case (at least the case we all hope for) is that the OP is introduced to a new technique or approach. If the OP can't follow the new solution they can ask about it, or they can simply discard it and accept the "Yes, that's correct." which precedes it. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:51 | comment | added | amWhy | Exams and homework often stipulates: *Use induction to prove ............ *. They post their induction proof, and you are going to suggest, "induction isn't needed!" Dah, but the OP has specific instructions. That happens all the time on math.se! | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:48 | comment | added | amWhy | @lulu (1) Answerers aren't privy to what a user has in their tool box, and to use a tool they have no knowledge of, say until it's covered a month later in their text/class, is downright problematic. Say a user posts everything you suggest? And the OP ended up with a correct answer, via erroneous moves/assumptions, but the user answering doesn't see that immediately, so approves of faulty work, then goes on to show how they would do it (at a level beyond the OP). What do we do about students who submit their "approved work" only to fail an exam? | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:39 | comment | added | amWhy | That said, solution/proof verification questions have a shaky status on math.se. E.g., we refuse to read prepublication manuscripts, because "it is not the purpose of this site to review others work." It's not a far stretch to suggest that, because the only way to successfully actually answer such a question is telling them something they did not ask for. When there are profound mistakes, a decent answer can arise, but we are not graders, reviewers, etc. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:35 | comment | added | amWhy | Judgiing from the myriad of cases where a user wants to know if their solution is correct, and another user asks "Does this post answer your question ..................", the most frequent response is an OP staying, "I just want to know if my own solution is correct!" An alternative method should be used only when the OP presents their solution, asks for verification, and also asks: "Is there another more efficient method"? etc. Please do not read an OP's mind thinking "I'm so clever, I'll wow her with *my solution!" when it is not explicitly asked. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:23 | comment | added | lulu | Saying "yes, that's correct." is...pretty terse. And it's just proof by Authority. Saying "Yes, that's correct, and here's another way of thinking about it...." at least provides insight into the underlying question. | |
| Jul 5, 2021 at 20:15 | history | asked | A-Level Student | CC BY-SA 4.0 |