# Database of abstract duplicates displayed when asking question/clicking on tag

The following question came up today:

Prove $5a^2 ≠ 3b^2$ for all non-zero rational numbers $a$ and $b$

This is surely an abstract duplicate if not an actual duplicate. Yet as I intended to indicate this to the OP and direct them to a place where their problem was virtually solved, I found it actually not that easy to look for a dupe here - there are nearly no keywords in the question or in the answer.

"Not that easy" turns to "nearly impossible" if you think of how hard it would be for the OP to look for a dupe prior to submitting their question.

The solution that I could think of is to have a database of abstract duplicates, sorted by tags, including the abstract mother of all questions when applicable, and including a couple of examples. Sort of an FAQ section that could be displayed in the Ask a Question form as soon as the OP have chosen tags for their question.

It could also be displayed when you click on a particular tag, in order to help answerers tidy up duplicates.

I discovered while writing this question that there is a list here, but it doesn't really help askers - or answerers who are not aware of the existence of this list.

• I'll just mention that the list you linked to (and some other lists) are mentioned in the proposed FAQ item on searching: How to search on this site? – Martin Sleziak Jul 3 at 15:52
• It's not exactly what you're looking for, but there is frequent tab for any tag (in fact for any combinations of tags). This show post which are often linked - so if some post appeared several times or in several variants, there is a chance that it can be found here. (Although I am basically repeating here part of the advice given in the post linked in the previous comment.) – Martin Sleziak Jul 13 at 7:04