# Why is my question deleted as “missing context”?

Why is my question deleted as "missing context"?

I once asked a question about the integral of $$(\operatorname{sech} x)^2$$.
It got deleted as "missing context".

• Merely stating a problem, especially when it seems to be exactly quoted from an assignment, will not convey the context of what help you need to learn mathematics. Context can be supplied in many forms: why is the problem important or challenging for you, what approach did you already try, or where you came up with the problem statement originally. Those details, while obviously clear to you, will be advantageous to Readers trying to aid your studies in an efficient way. – hardmath Mar 7 '20 at 6:13
• What do you mean by "what help you need to learn mathematics"? – Scratch---Cat Mar 7 '20 at 9:21
• It means that teachers like to formulate their answers to meet the needs of individual students, and can't do that if we don't know anything about the student. If a question just asks, "what's the integral of sech^2x?" then we don't know whether the student's problem is not knowing what sech x means, or not knowing what "integral" means, or any of a dozen other difficulties the student could be having. The more you tell us about what (relevent things) you know, and what you don't know, the more helpful we can be to you. – Gerry Myerson Mar 7 '20 at 10:46
• @GerryMyerson Feel free to write that in an answer. I think it speaks to the heart of the matter. – amWhy Mar 7 '20 at 16:41

It means that teachers like to formulate their answers to meet the needs of individual students, and can't do that if we don't know anything about the student. If a question just asks, "what's the integral of $$\rm{sech}^2x$$?" then we don't know whether the student's problem is not knowing what $$\rm{sech}^2x$$ means, or not knowing what "integral" means, or any of a dozen other difficulties the student could be having. The more you tell us about what (relevent things) you know, and what you don't know, the more helpful we can be to you. –