1
$\begingroup$

Premise

A while ago I posted a question on the math section of StackExchange.
A user gave me an answer that, seen without attention, seemed both well written and with correct reasoning behind it (in fact it was upvoted 5 times).

Problem

Then when I looked at the answer in detail I realized that the answer was a totally different question from mine and it wasn't useful in the slightest.

The problem is that now my question seems to have an answer, so no one tries to answer it anymore.

  • I had tried to mark the response as "not an answer" but was declined
  • I also tried to delete the post but it won't let me do it because it says someone replied and wasted their time.

Context

I asked for help on how to solve this integral:

$$\int_{1}^{\infty}\frac{ax-b+1}{x^{\frac{1}{b}}}e^{-\frac{a}{b}x}\ln\left(ax-b+1\right)\mathrm{d}x\qquad a>0, b\in(0,1]$$

I was responded to by giving me the solution to the following integral: $$\int_1^\infty x^k e^{-x} \ln(x+a) dx\qquad k\in\mathbb{N}$$ Basically they gave a simplified version of the problem as an answer but in my case it is not useful to the problem since $$\int_{1}^{\infty}\frac{ax-b+1}{x^{\frac{1}{b}}}e^{-\frac{a}{b}x}\ln\left(ax-b+1\right)\mathrm{d}x=a\int_{1}^{\infty}x^{1-\frac{1}{b}}e^{-\frac{a}{b}x}\ln\left(ax-b+1\right)\mathrm{d}x+(1-b)\int_{1}^{\infty}x^{-\frac{1}{b}}e^{-\frac{a}{b}x}\ln\left(ax-b+1\right)\mathrm{d}x$$ and being $b\in(0,1]$ we have $$1-\frac{1}{b}\leq 0\qquad\text{and}\qquad -\frac{1}{b}\leq-1$$ So the fact that they gave me the solution where $x^k$ has positive $k$ is completely useless.

Question

How can I get those replies removed? I'm tempted to repost the question but would like to avoid creating a duplicate.
I repeat that it is not so much the fact that the answer is wrong that is not good, but the fact that it seems correct, is upvoted and other users think that the question has been answered correctly.

$\endgroup$
4
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Well, the first thing you should try is replying in the comments under the answer and let the answerer know that you think there's a gap between what you asked and what you answered. They may be able to help! $\endgroup$
    – KReiser
    Nov 20 at 0:23
  • $\begingroup$ @KReiser Something like this had already happened to me with another question (I asked for convergent integral and someone answered with a divergent series) I told her in the comments but the conversation died after 2 comments (this is the other question: math.stackexchange.com/questions/4687259/…) $\endgroup$
    – Math Attack
    Nov 20 at 0:47
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ So you decided to never try again? It's not the only option you have, but it's a good first step. (Also, the answerer replied to you! Twice!) $\endgroup$
    – KReiser
    Nov 20 at 0:49
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ The highest-voted answer says that it's a "partial answer" which seems to be based on TheSimpliFire's comment. I don't think any of the two people who answered were trying to make it seem like they knew the exact solution to your post. You could put a bounty on the question to inspire other experienced people to give your post a shot. $\endgroup$
    – Accelerator
    Nov 20 at 5:09

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7
$\begingroup$

You can leave a comment explaining why the answer is incorrect, and ignore it. There is no other action available. It will be up to the community to form their own judgement; if they agree with your assessment, they might choose to downvote the incorrect answer. It's not worth worrying about it, particularly since at that point you've done everything you can do.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .