Questions tagged [answers]

For questions about answers on the main site. Consider using the accepted-answer tag if the question is about an answer that has been accepted.

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2 votes
0 answers
117 views

Follow-up on previous question about comment-answered questions

Last week I asked this question on what the current policy is on comment-answered questions. I thought I had reached an understanding. The top answers expressed that if someone sees this, they should ...
25 votes
4 answers
1k views

Treatment of comment-answered questions: what is the current policy as of February 2023?

I have noticed that quite a few questions tend to be answered in the comments. This was apparently observed $12$ years ago to a similar extent. These questions (unsurprisingly) tend to be on the ...
51 votes
2 answers
2k views

Editing comments to remove references to gender

This morning I discovered that an old answer of mine to a question about real life application of Linear Algebra had been transformed into a comment. I admit that the answer was not too serious: I ...
  • 25.9k
4 votes
2 answers
175 views

How to copy page content including all TeX commands

I posted an answer to this question, and a commenter suggested an alternative. The commenter answer was simpler, more elegant than mine, and I would have upvoted it ... except he had posted it in the ...
  • 33.4k
4 votes
0 answers
349 views

Separate an extremely long second solution into another answer or leave it in the original one?

I answered this question yesterday. In my answer, I discuss 2 different evaluation techniques, one of which is long and partially incomplete. However, after thinking about it for a while, I have ...
  • 1,140
10 votes
1 answer
670 views

The thin line between answers and comments

What qualifies as an answer? I reproduce my (deleted) answer here: Use SFFT to factor $xy-8x-4y = 0$. The answer received $2$ upvotes and was also accepted by the OP. A while later, however, a ...
user avatar
-10 votes
1 answer
140 views

"Post Answer" option for those mid-way writing despite "Closed" post

When the post is closed, no longer answers are accepted as: the answer box gets removed. if you were writing something, the post answer option is no longer available. In the latter case, I am ...
-13 votes
1 answer
189 views

Would quality picture answers be on topic?

I recently came across this free website, and I've been using it to present ideas and explain things. I recently asked a question which got a great answer by user Mateo. Using the website, I then ...
9 votes
3 answers
655 views

Are users obligated to read (or at least skim) existing answers before posting a new answer?

Are users obligated to read (or at least skim) existing answers before posting a new answer? I can see one reason for "yes": it would reduce redundant answers. But How to write a good answer ...
  • 8,388
9 votes
1 answer
819 views

New answer which is identical to mine

As I was scrolling through the new questions of MSE, I thought of checking out some of my previous unaccepted answers and learn something from the accepted answers. And it happened that a question($g(...
user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
110 views

How did this closed question gain a new answer?

I closed a question (“ Transposing matrices by multiplication ”) some hours ago as a dupe, but someone gave it a new answer two hours later. Looking at the revision history, the question had not been ...
  • 130k
0 votes
1 answer
103 views

Should I post link as a comment or an answer?

Situation: A question was asked. I tried to find a solution, but got stuck. So I asked for help from MSE and am currently waiting for answers. If I get a suitable answer, then I plan on posting this ...
-7 votes
1 answer
109 views

Is it alright to answer via YouTube link?

One of the questions that I had asked earlier, here on MSE (added at the end of this post), failed to get an appropriate response but a few days later one of my friends whom I consulted later ...
9 votes
1 answer
690 views

How to respond to newbie answer.

I came across a late answer by a new user to a question, which I link here; and I have a dilemma how to respond. The formatting was pretty bad (read: non-existent), so I edited it and commented, ...
42 votes
2 answers
2k views

What if askers don't know what they don't know?

I recently answered this question about vector space isomorphisms. The question is somewhat unfocused, but it seems clear to me that this is because the asker is struggling with the concepts involved ...
  • 5,223
22 votes
4 answers
1k views

What do I do if I got two equally good answers for a question that say basically the same thing, and I don't know which one to accept?

Here is the post for context: Is "today is Presidents' Day" a proposition, propositional function, or neither? Both the answers are really great and thorough, and they basically say the ...
0 votes
0 answers
84 views

Find comment or answer about notation

If I remember correctly I asked a question during spring 2020 about group theory or algebra and somebody wrote that they had an informal symbol for a generalized operation (I think it looked similar ...
11 votes
0 answers
361 views

How to appropriately link to a resource that answers OP's question?

So I recently came across this question, where the OP asks for a proof of the uniform convergence of a certain sequence, and I happen to have a link to some lecture notes which contain a detailed ...
  • 2,522
5 votes
1 answer
98 views

Answers not showing on profiles on mobile site.

For some reason, answers are not displaying on mine or other's profiles on the mobile site. See the picture below.
  • 41.8k
0 votes
0 answers
40 views

Deleted comments to post "Aproximating differential equation in maple"

Yesterday I asked a question in the post named Aproximating differential equation in maple. I received beneficial feedback and help but the help comments are not there anymore. Were they deleted or ...
  • 45
20 votes
7 answers
1k views

Should we discourage full solutions to questions that explicitly ask for a hint?

I've encountered several posts in the past that explicitly ask for a hint for their stated problem. It's not uncommon for these questions to gather full solutions for their problem, sometimes in their ...
  • 47.6k
6 votes
0 answers
130 views

How can I provide useful links which may answer a question.

I am currently looking at providing this user with a resource which may answer their question, however I cannot add this as a comment as I do not have enough reputation. I am not sure if I should post ...
  • 687
0 votes
0 answers
221 views

How come some of my questions get only some comments but not any answer?

Certain times, I post questions that get some valuable comments but never an answer. For example the question for comparison on real numbers and caveats. I am not sure why this happening. Is my post ...
  • 1,571
2 votes
1 answer
411 views

How fundamental is the choice of title in a question on Math.SE?

When I'm trying to write a question I certainly make a lot of effort to be as clear as possible. Certainly the hurry does not provide good advice and, several times in my specific case, I spend little ...
  • 6,411
5 votes
1 answer
332 views

Where to Place Answer to a Duplicate Question

I recently posted this answer to a question marked as a duplicate. I did check first that my approach had not previously been taken. Should I delete my answer and transplant the analysis as an ...
  • 31.3k
-7 votes
1 answer
111 views

Remove "This question has more than 30 answers" warning for "big-list" questions on meta

Since "big-list" questions are expected to get more than 30 answers, is it OK for you to remove the "This question has more than 30 answers" warning? Could it also be done on other ...
5 votes
1 answer
218 views

How should questions tagged "solution-verification" be answered? [duplicate]

Often when people post their solutions to a particular problem on a question of theirs and they tag it solution-verification, the solution that they give is flawless, or can be improved a small amount ...
-12 votes
1 answer
170 views

Why users are providing expired link?

I see many old answers contains expired links. Whenever I click on a link it show that links has expired. I'm not getting why users are providing expired links in an answer?
  • 14k
-2 votes
1 answer
179 views

Are answers involving final answer only allowed? [closed]

I was wondering in what circumstances are short final answers allowed. There are some case where I am left astonished of how such answers follow MSE's guidelines.
  • 179
1 vote
3 answers
391 views

Am I allowed to answer even if I am unsure that my answer is correct?

Sometimes I want to try answering someone's question to receive feedback for my answer from more qualified people, because I am not sure if my answer is valid. I am willing to take my answer down if ...
  • 1,505
-3 votes
1 answer
440 views

Drawback of answers written by some high reputation users

Drawback of answers written by some high reputation users This is my personal view: some high reputation users don't write their answers in detail. I think they should write their answers in detail so ...
  • 14k
-3 votes
1 answer
219 views

Why do edits have to be at least 6 characters?

I am wondering why edits are required to be at least 6 characters. As an example, someone answered the question How to calculate the integral of a Legendre polynomial excellently but for a typo, which ...
  • 393
1 vote
1 answer
89 views

How can I find an answer when I accidentally closed the window?

I was attempting to answer a question on computing $\sin(\pi/n)$, and in the process I needed a reference so I opened another window to find it. When I found what I was looking for I meant to close ...
  • 33.4k
14 votes
2 answers
858 views

Should I flag an answer if the answer is wrong?

I am referring to this flag I raised- The answer should have been deleted, apart from being downvoted. For this purpose, couldn't I flag? These types of answers (from high rep. users) lower the ...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
642 views

Is it okay to answer using a spoiler block?

Is it okay to answer a question in a spoiler block? I am curious since almost no answers use it.
  • 2,087
-1 votes
1 answer
177 views

How to deal with "hint" answers

I notice that many people put "hints" as answers. For example, let's say I ask the question, how would I solve $\sum_{i=0}^\infty \frac{1}{n(n+1)}$, and someone answers with, "HINT: It ...
  • 2,692
9 votes
0 answers
113 views

A possible solution to reduce answering of duplicate questions

The whole point of people answering duplicate questions which are duplicates without checking if similar queries exist before are because they will get points if they do so. So, the reason why people ...
4 votes
1 answer
894 views

Proper action for a "thank you" answer that may have some useful content?

The question is Integral of sinc function multiplied by Gaussian. The author, who doesn't seem to have contributed since 2012, answered his own question to say thank you. We all know it's not ...
1 vote
1 answer
71 views

Is there any way to add a bookmark to any answer of a question?

I basically if needed used to follow the question as I didn't find any way to add a bookmark to any answer like the amenity we have for a question. Does someone have any ideas regarding this?
  • 113
-2 votes
1 answer
118 views

Merge request of two almost-identical answers

The answers https://math.stackexchange.com/a/831870/290189 and https://math.stackexchange.com/a/831830/290189 contain the same math equations with the same variables. The logic is the same, only the ...
13 votes
0 answers
404 views

Regarding - posting a negative comment to a question and answering the same.

We post comments to posts which lack effort, suggesting them to include their efforts(I agree with that) or informing them that the answer is trivial when they use a particular formula or method. ...
  • 12.7k
3 votes
0 answers
163 views

Receiving an answer which is not clear and has ambiguities

I asked a question, and I received an answer (see here: Non-isomorphicity of certain fields.). But the answer is not clear to me, and it has too many ambiguities for me. I've tried too much and ...
-14 votes
1 answer
172 views

Why do people give "hints" instead of "answers"? [closed]

Seriously. Everything can be a homework problem if you think about it. Do you see stackoverflow saying "ooh, here's a hint how to run a certain script on Ubuntu reboot"? Their problems are ...
  • 109
-9 votes
1 answer
138 views

Is it possible to pay to get a quick answer? [closed]

Reading this section of the Stack Overflow site it seems that there are some payment services to have quick answers in any Stack Exchange community: is this true?
3 votes
1 answer
211 views

Why are visual/graphical/intuitive solutions discouraged on MSE?

I have been active on MSE for around 3-4 days. I have noticed the fact that people either ignore or downvote intuitive/graphical/visual analogies of a problem. However I feel that intuition is one of ...
23 votes
1 answer
1k views

A strange hurry to get an answer

In several months since I have been re-registered, I have observed that some users are in an unusual hurry to receive a response. I was asking myself these days if some users ask a question at an exam ...
  • 6,411
7 votes
1 answer
124 views

If not flagging, how to dispute incorrect answers?

I was browsing the top sequences-and-series questions for fun and stumbled upon this problem, where the only answer is incorrect (the user misconstrued the problem and tiled $[0,1]^2$ with rectangles ...
  • 8,174
4 votes
1 answer
106 views

Is it possible to view my own answer for a deleted question?

I was trying to remember a problem I answered a month ago but could not find it in my profile page answer list. I think it is safe to assume the question was deleted. Is there any way I can look at a ...
  • 12k
2 votes
1 answer
562 views

Was My MathSE answer appropriate

This meta-query focuses on my (user2661923) answer to the following link, Solving $3\cos x+4\sin x = \frac52$, as well as the subsequent comment that my answer triggered. I encountered a mathSE query ...
  • 31.3k
4 votes
1 answer
346 views

Answer to a short question that was already answered in comments

The question Find $\nabla f(x,y)$, where $f(x,y)=10x^3-5x^2+5xy+5y^2+8$ is pretty much of a kind "please, check if I did this correctly". I have clarified a couple of confusions in comments, ...
  • 34.8k

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