What is this boolean pattern? This seems a bit frustrating and confusing. From my perspective yes it started unclear when D.W. may have first looked at it, but I believe that the intent to know how I might go about "a memory-less method of calculating" is quite clear now. I didn't receive any further instruction after my edit. Can someone please explain how I can "be more specific about what [I'm] looking for, and be sure to address any concerns that other users brought up in the comments." (italics added)
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2$\begingroup$ Perhaps the tags (specific-question) and (closed-questions) would be suitable here? Also I don't think this is really a question about (support) - see the tag-info. I'd say (discussion) would be more suitable. $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakCommented Dec 24, 2023 at 13:21
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9$\begingroup$ Question is incomprehensible. What's a "Boolean field"? What's the "side length" of a Boolean field? "top row and leftmost column" of what? What "series"? And so on, and so forth. Too many terms that only you can understand. Write for the rest of us, instead. $\endgroup$– Gerry MyersonCommented Dec 24, 2023 at 13:32
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5$\begingroup$ Perhaps you have a clear picture of what you intended to ask, but you haven't communicated it well. I suggest editing to define all your terms clearly and precisely. Keep in mind that things that seem obvious to somebody who has been working at a particular problem for a long time might not be obvious to someone who is not familiar with the problem. $\endgroup$– luluCommented Dec 24, 2023 at 17:02
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2 Answers
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Sometimes one doesn't have the maths, or even the vocabulary, to tell it better. It shall not be a problem as long as the question is clear enough to be understood.
However there is room for improvement:
1/ Describe better the construction so that there is no ambiguity. I added a comment, I think I found out how the bit arrays are built, but I'm not 100% sure. We can't help you until we understand clearly the question.
2/ Add some context: why are you doing this, for what kind of purpose? It may be useful to better understand the problem, and the kind of answer you are looking for. Sometimes it helps reformulate the problem in a simpler way. At any rate, it shows the problem is not purely a thought construct, but is backed by something concrete that may be interesting for other users of the site. Isolated problems are frowned upon here.
I don't mind the strange vocabulary as long as I can make sense of the question: we may help make it more mathematically sound, if needed.
answered Dec 24, 2023 at 19:16
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It sounds like you're asking two questions: why was the question closed? and, how can I improve the question? I'll answer each below.
Why was the question closed?
Because, in this case, "more clear" was not "clear enough". The problem was unclear in several ways, and the edit you made before closure resolved some but not all of those problems. So it was a good step but more work was needed, and the question was put on hold to give you an opportunity to do that.
A bit of terminology: the question was put on hold. This is intended to be temporary, to block answers until the question has been revised to meet our standards. Once the question is revised to be suitable, it can be re-opened -- and in this case, the question was indeed revised based on the feedback and subsequently re-opened. I think it's a lot clearer now. Good work on your revisions.
The purpose for this procedure is to avoid confusion and wasted time. Experience has shown that it can cause problems if people answer unclear questions, because then it is not necessarily clear what criteria should be used for voting; because it can lead an accumulation multiple answers that each address different understanding of what the question might have been; and because it does not contribute to the mission of building up an archive of knowledge in the form of high-quality questions and answers.
I realize it might be frustrating and confusing. That isn't our intent, but I can easily see how that can be the experience. I don't know how much experience you have with the Stack Exchange format. Stack Exchange sites work differently from others you might be used to. We have high quality standards, which can easily lead to a frustrating experience if you're not used to the site. Hopefully as you get used to the expectations here, you will have a better experience in the future.
How can you improve it?
You've already made major improvements, and I think the question is now clear and in good shape. So I don't think any further improvements are needed for it to be on-topic and suitable here.
In the future, you can improve questions by revising them based on the feedback received in the comments. Sometimes it might require a few revisions, and that is fine. All good. We care about the final form of the question.
