Questions tagged [soft-question]

For questions whose answers can't be objectively evaluated as correct or incorrect, but which are still relevant to this site. Please be specific about what you are after.

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The downvoting system is toxic. [duplicate]

I was told to ask here. Here I am! Does anyone else have the same feeling? Sometimes some questions are downvoted because it seems trivial. But to be honest, as a person first seeing some maths ...
kathy4k's user avatar
  • 572
-4 votes
1 answer
114 views

How common is it to do a lot of roundabout work? [closed]

When I'm thinking about a question, I often find that I've done a lot of roundabout work only to find a neat direct shortcut solution, especially when I'm into a new concept. It's kind of frustrating, ...
Michael's user avatar
  • 397
-1 votes
2 answers
216 views

I have a question on how to study maths, is MSE the right place for it?

I have a question regarding how to study maths efficiently, and how the best study maths. Is this the best place for i?
math and physics forever's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

Which posts have a high value of $\min(\text{upvotes, downvotes})$?

I am curious to see posts that have polarized readers; that is, posts with many upvotes and many downvotes. So, Which posts (question or answer) on Math Stack Exchange have a high value of $\min(\...
Dan's user avatar
  • 12.5k
-2 votes
1 answer
259 views

what is the maximum duration of moderator ? How many years they will remain in their positions as moderator?

I think MSE is like a democratic country. we cast vote and choosing our favourite USER My question : what is the maximum duration of moderator ? How many years they will remain in their positions as ...
jasmine's user avatar
  • 14.2k
0 votes
1 answer
87 views

Create a list of my own questions. [duplicate]

I am planning to create manual solutions for some famous books in Analysis, Topology, Algebra which currently do not have available online solutions. I'd like to share those solutions on this site in ...
Hoang Nguyen's user avatar
11 votes
0 answers
601 views

Are soft questions allowed on MSE? I see there is a tag for it but I'm scared I will be downvoted for it.

What I was really looking for was a SE but for "soft questions mathematics" - the closest thing I found was the History of Mathematics and Physics SE, which is unlucky considering the ...
user71207's user avatar
  • 1,533
30 votes
2 answers
5k views

$\pi + e$ is irrational, I want to share but nervous.

I have the proof for $\pi + e$ being irrational. Honestly, I’ve been delving into irrational analysis for awhile now, and I got lucky stumbling into a solution. I’m not an amateur mathematician, but ...
Ace Sarich's user avatar
-2 votes
2 answers
423 views

Has it become too hard to write self-answered questions?

Recently I posted a self-answered question which I had been working on in the Sandbox for drafts of long, complex posts for $2$ months (August $10^{th}$ to October $10^{th}$), which underwent $44$ ...
user400188's user avatar
  • 1,936
35 votes
3 answers
1k views

Looking for other math forums for more "soft" discussions

Well, I don't even know if meta is the right place to ask this, but I thought it suited more than the standard Math Stack Exchange. As a mathematics undergrad student, I usually face some questions ...
ConcreteSwanDive's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
125 views

What aspect of a question determines whether a soft question is a good fit for math.SE? [duplicate]

Note: This question is (in my opinion) not a duplicate of the question people have voted to close it for. I specifically cite that particular link, and am expressing confusion about how that answer in ...
E-A's user avatar
  • 5,952
2 votes
1 answer
121 views

Writing Math equations in MSE. [duplicate]

How do I write the mathematical equations in a question, here on stack exchange? When I try to write a question which involves equations, I get stuck as I don't know how to input those equations... ...
Harrison Wells's user avatar
50 votes
12 answers
3k views

What's the reputation of MathSE among students and more casual users?

StackOverflow has quite the reputation as a toxic site, mostly for being unwelcoming to new users. But what's MathSE's general reputation? For users who are teachers, have you heard any of your ...
Mike Pierce's user avatar
  • 18.7k
35 votes
4 answers
1k views

How do I ask a good question about a topic I am not completely familiar with?

In my classes, it is easy as my professor would correct my question if it bad, or ask me to re-state it and I would learn something new if my question was good or bad. However, in this site I have ...
bguner's user avatar
  • 21
29 votes
2 answers
1k views

How does one handle books without errata?

My situation: My book is Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology by Loring W. Tu and Raoul Bott of which An Introduction to Manifolds by Loring W. Tu is a prequel. Neither of which appears to have ...
Selene Auckland's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
75 views

Why there are still so many opinion based questions? Should they be closed?

One of the reasons that we delete questions at math.stackexchange is because the answer is primarily opinion based. However, my observation is that there are still many such questions; they are not ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 5,233
1 vote
1 answer
65 views

Should this question not be tagged as "soft question"?

There is a question asking about summer programs which is tagged "soft questions" along with other tags. I am not asking about if this question is suitable for math.stackexchange; instead, I am asking ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 5,233
17 votes
1 answer
389 views

Are "soft questions" "opinion based"? How about vice versa?

There is a tag called "soft questions", which is described as follows: For questions whose answers can't be objectively evaluated as correct or incorrect, but which are still relevant to ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 5,233
18 votes
2 answers
613 views

Answering a question too late

I recently answered a question I later found to have been asked nearly 3 years ago. If interested the question is Constructing a family of sets. (EDIT: The answer I provided was not correct, but this ...
Alberto Takase's user avatar
-4 votes
2 answers
147 views

Is it OK to link other profiles in questions/comments/answers?

I often will link other people's profiles in my posts where they are appropriate but I've never checked whether this is OK. I've read through the rules and couldn't find anything that spoke to this. ...
user avatar
22 votes
3 answers
575 views

How to make a question regarding proof verification more interesting and more attractive?

Since I self-study mathematical analysis without formal teacher, I can only appeal to help from out site most of the time. It's obvious that to grasp the underlying concepts in mathematics, we must ...
Akira's user avatar
  • 16.2k
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

An Identity Crisis

I'm raising a philosophical question, here, having to do with the format and layout of M.SE versus the stated goals. Essentially, I am asking the question of whether the format of M.SE is in alignment ...
Adrian Keister's user avatar
30 votes
1 answer
1k views

What to do when someone tells you something like this in her/his comment and then deletes the comment?

There was a question today under which I left a comment that was not right in the sense that what was implied by that comment would not settle the question at all, but it had to do something with the ...
user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
967 views

What was wrong with my post?

Forgive me, I do not know where else to post this - I assume this is the right place. I recently made a post asking a question here: Prove that g has no roots It recevied a negative voting score ...
Benjamin's user avatar
  • 1,154
0 votes
0 answers
17 views

General informations on questions

My question is related to the enormous amount of questions that are posted here on this site. Are these questions involving definite integrals, sequences series, limit and many more, in short all ...
Upstart's user avatar
  • 2,627
16 votes
2 answers
1k views

Compiling a book of the most interesting problems solved in Math Stackexchange

I was reading the Princeton Companion of Mathematics compiled by Tim Gowers and team and a thought stuck me. What we if produced a compilation book of the most interesting problems solved in Math ...
Nilotpal Sinha's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
110 views

What is this paradoxical image in the site's header? [duplicate]

What is this paradoxical image composed of red cubes in the site's header called? Is there something (not necesserily mathematically) interesting about it other than its only being able to be ...
Michael Smith's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
339 views

Would a question asking "Is Theorem X interesting enough to be submitted for publication?" appropriate for MSE?

I have recently proved something (let's call it theorem X) which seems to be a cute, elementary result (I certainly do not mean Riemann, Goldbach etc.) I would like to post the following question: "Do ...
Konstantinos Gaitanas's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
330 views

Can the chat be used to discuss opinionated questions

After reading: Where to have discussions about intuition? It's pretty explicit that the main Q&A site isn't for gathering opinions or general extended discussion about math/math related topics (...
Sidharth Ghoshal's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
342 views

What are some examples of good questions falling under the tags (soft-question), (advice), (career-development)?

What are some examples of good questions falling under the following tags? soft-question advice career-development I am asking this question because often, positive reactions from users towards ...
user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
431 views

Etiquette about posting a large number of questions about preliminary exams.

I am Currently studying for my preliminary exams (Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra), and I can solve about half of the previous years exam questions. However, I do not have anyone to vet my proofs ...
Krampus's user avatar
  • 577
86 votes
7 answers
3k views

I feel mathematically inadequate for this site. What level are the majority of questions?

I visit this site alot (even though I have only just signed up, I was a big reader), as it helps me understand important mathematics and was a big help when I was a student. However, despite ...
MathsPro's user avatar
  • 161
1 vote
1 answer
335 views

Questions that involve opinions

I am wondering why it is that questions that are deemed to require opinions are closed or put on hold? But I am also wondering if there is any alternate ways/formats that these types of questions can ...
Quality's user avatar
  • 5,469
-6 votes
1 answer
198 views

What are the desired questions that should to be in SM (stackexchangemath)? [duplicate]

According to many questions posted in SM, I see that SM gives high importance for the related questions to Real analysis and number theory and contests where "MO" gives high importance to Algebra and ...
zeraoulia rafik's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
322 views

Why some questions are unanswered yet?

I am not new here. Well... I see here some questions in "unanswered" category that have gained many votes but are unanswered yet. As far as I know, the site has many outspoken members viz., some them ...
Sufyan Naeem's user avatar
  • 2,248
13 votes
1 answer
292 views

Are career related questions allowed?

Are questions about asking career advice and opportunities removed ? I have seen such some question with up votes and answers, while other are down voted and removed. Are there particular career ...
advocateofnone's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
59 views

Should requesting examples be tagged as Soft-questions?

Here is the description of the tag "soft question": ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 5,233
13 votes
1 answer
618 views

What kinds of soft questions are acceptable at math.stackexchange?

I have asked Is remaining single helpful in mathematical career? today and it was put on hold as off-topic. While How hard should a mathematician work? is acceptable with many positive votes and ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 5,233
-5 votes
1 answer
298 views

How to ask a popular question

Problem. Today I saw a question that gathered more than $500$ views less than in $10$ hours. It gives some privilege to the asking person since different people can look at your question from ...
Jihad's user avatar
  • 477
36 votes
2 answers
1k views

Do those red cubes aligned circulary next to MATHEMATICS have any mathematical significance?

Or they just look fancy and that's why it was put there ?
The very fluffy Panda's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
69 views

Where should I ask questions?

I am a sophomore student in China, and I have already learned all the undergraduate courses and several graduate courses in my college. Now I am trying to solve out the problems in qualify exam of ...
user139193's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
114 views

How do we connect our math.stackexchange account to our facebook page???

For instance, I would like to display on my FB page that I have an active account here. Is there some 1-click way of doing that? Has anybody done this? Thanks.
MathCrackExchange's user avatar
45 votes
6 answers
6k views

Why are people so interested in finding limits without l'Hôpital's rule?

It is not difficult to find questions about evaluating limits without the use of l'Hôpital's rule. As long as the function is differentiable, not directly reducible and tends towards an intermediate ...
Christian Chapman's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
440 views

Popular soft questions

I have seen multiple questions tagged with the tag soft-question. However, one thing that I've noticed is that almost immediately, these questions get voted down or they are flagged. On the tag page,...
2 votes
1 answer
141 views

Should I refer to answerer person?

I've asked a question and have got an answer, which is not a novel research but most probably is just taken from a third party book. When I base a proof in the book I write on a math.SE answer, must ...
porton's user avatar
  • 4,963
0 votes
1 answer
60 views

Sorting questions by user [duplicate]

Is there a way to see the questions where particular users (I choose) participate? (I guess this should be in meta, but I don't know how to post it there)
user avatar
-8 votes
4 answers
380 views

Why was the soft question on "Maths at university" closed?

Why was the following question closed? https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/609099/maths-at-university/ I ask because it is a very natural question, and one which has the potential to be useful ...
user1729's user avatar
  • 30.4k
23 votes
2 answers
1k views

Distribution of time to first answer in MathStackExchange?

Has anybody got the information on the distribution of the time interval between posting of a question and the posting of the first answer to that question (answer need not be accepted)? I believe ...
triomphe's user avatar
  • 3,798
-6 votes
1 answer
177 views

Pity Votes to encourage Participation

What are our thoughts on upvoting something that is wrong, but showed some time and consideration of the question at hand? Do we upvote a newer user even when he or she gives an incorrect answer, just ...
Vladhagen's user avatar
  • 4,808
1 vote
1 answer
325 views

Answering your own question

Is it allowed to answer question you asked ? When I press answer button, one of options is "Are you sure you want to answer your own question?" I answered one of question I asked and got in trouble ...
user2982390's user avatar