Seeing the level of work on here and the bad feedback I have gotten makes me wonder if it is okay to use this site to check my work for errors or ask for a solution to a problem that I can't solve. I have had to post numerous questions on the same question that I have had absolutely no luck solving and I am trying to get feedback as I either get on and late and the question is dead so I can't have my work rechecked. So is this behavior appropriate for this site?
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3$\begingroup$ this is more of a meta question $\endgroup$– Andres MejiaCommented May 18, 2016 at 21:17
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7$\begingroup$ Your Lagrange multipliers question was closed with the following note: "This question is missing context or other details: Please improve the question by providing additional context, which ideally includes your thoughts on the problem and any attempts you have made to solve it. This information helps others identify where you have difficulties and helps them write answers appropriate to your experience level." Instead of following this advice, you created two new questions that have to be closed as duplicates. If you edit the question as suggested, it can be reopened. $\endgroup$– Andrew DudzikCommented May 18, 2016 at 21:27
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$\begingroup$ Might be helpful: How to ask a good question? $\endgroup$– SurbCommented May 18, 2016 at 23:34
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2$\begingroup$ You could have a look at some other questions on meta tagged (solution-verification). For example: Best way of asking “check my proof” questions, Are “please check my proof” type of questions proper?, Questions that Ask to Verify Solution to Problem. $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakCommented May 19, 2016 at 5:02
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$\begingroup$ At the moment, general consensus seems to be that such questions are allowed. But the rules might change in the future, in particular if there are too many such questions. The possibility of disallowing this kind of questions was previously discussed here and here. $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakCommented May 19, 2016 at 5:06
2 Answers
It seems that there are two separate issues in what you are asking. So let me address them separately:
Is it okay if I use this site to have someone check my work?
This was discussed here on meta many times, you can check some questions tagged solution-verification here on meta. For example: http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/4597/best-way-of-asking-check-my-proof-questions, http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/1878/are-please-check-my-proof-type-of-questions-proper or http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/8424/questions-that-ask-to-verify-solution-to-problem.
At the moment, general consensus seems to be that such questions are allowed. But the rules might change in the future, in particular if there are too many such questions. The possibility of disallowing this kind of questions was previously discussed here and here. In fact, even a possibility of a separate SE site for this purpose was discussed about two years ago here.
I have had to post numerous questions on the same question
When I looked on the main site on your recent post I have seen that there are several questions asking essentially about the same problem.
- Method to find the extremal values of $xyz$ subject to $x^2+2y^2+3z^2=a$
- Find the Lagrange multipliers with one constraint: $f(x,y,z) = xyz$ and $g(x,y,z) = x^2+2y^2+3z^2 = 6$
- Finding the Maximum and Minimum values w/constraint
And somebody pointed out in a comment that the same question has been previously posted by another user: Global maximum and minimum of $f(x,y,z)=xyz$ with the constraint $x^2+2y^2+3z^2=6$ with Lagrange multipliers?
This is definitely not a correct use of the site.
- If your question was put on hold, you should read the reason stated there. In this case it was: "This question is missing context or other details: Please improve the question by providing additional context, which ideally includes your thoughts on the problem and any attempts you have made to solve it. This information helps others identify where you have difficulties and helps them write answers appropriate to your experience level." If you click on the link given there, you can find out what is meant by adding context. (In this particular case, since you want to know where you have made a mistake, the best way is to show your work. (In this particular instance, I have copied your solution from another - duplicate - question and added solution-verification tag.)) The first edit of your post after being put on hold, if it is done withing 5 days, will put your question into reopen review queue, where other users can vote whether it should be reopened. For details see here.
- If you received an answer and for some reason you are not satisfied with the answer, you could first ask the answer in comments, or you could edit the question to clarify why the answer does not work for you, If this fails and nobody is answering, there are also other ways how to get more attention to your question, see here.
- If your question was closed as a duplicate and you think it is not a duplicate, the best thing to edit your question and explain why it is not a duplicate.
But posting repeatedly the same question is definitely not the correct way how to use this site.
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$\begingroup$ I agree that multiple posts on the same question is not the correct use of the site. Attention can be attracted to questions using bounty instead (which requires 75 reputation points). $\endgroup$– ahornCommented May 24, 2016 at 21:10
The -verification questions are either the the worst ("too localized") or the best (maximum "research effort") type of question on the site. Opinions differ.
The important thing is to add the tag proof-verification or solution-verification so as to advertise the nature of the question clearly, and machine-readably. Without the tag, there is no way to see from the list of questions that the post is of -verification type. With it, automatic filters can be applied.
Those tags seem to have been merged, although the two -verification types are logically different.