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Proposal: Mathematics Learning, Studying, and Education

In a vote to decide the name of the site proposal dedicated to question around teaching mathematics it seems that the proposal Math Educators might win; however, in comments there were users that supported the proposal but said that it should better be Mathematics Educators.

The purpose of this vote/poll/survey is to get a feel for the general opinion on this matter.

The initial options I seeded the vote with are

  1. I prefer Math Educators but have no strong preference
  2. I prefer Mathematics Educators but have no strong preference
  3. I prefer Math Educators and this is important to me (please explain in a comment why).
  4. I prefer Mathematics Educators and this is important to me (please explain in a comment why).
  5. The options Math Educators and Mathematics Educators to me are about equal.

Please upvote the answer closest to your opinions (downvotes on answers will not be taken into account, and please do not cast them). Please also only use the "important" options if this is actually the case.

Remarks:

  1. I did not include "maths" as an option as it was not actually proposed and there are several opitions already.

  2. The vote ends on/around March 7th (the current official end of the vote on the name); this is perhaps a bit short but then this is somehow only a detail. [Added: in some sense this is already over now, since a change happened as commitment progressed faster than it seemed.]

  3. Do not suggest completely different names as an answer (this is a side-vote of the general vote); but feel free to add other answers in a similar spirit if you feel some option is missing.

  4. I did on purpose not fix a hard rule how to assign weights to the different options; this could be discussed and also might and rather should be informaed by the quality of the arguments given for "important."

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  • 1
    The answers are CW so that many could edit them to then change their vote (if they changed their mind in the process).
    – quid
    Mar 3, 2014 at 11:58
  • 1
    Could those that can see please monitor if downvotes are cast even though they should not, and point this out when it happens. (For the final count I will ask somebody specifically but also for the interim count it can be interesting to know.)
    – quid
    Mar 3, 2014 at 12:07
  • To change my vote I need to downvote my old preference (and perhaps delete comments) and upvote the new one... why no downvotes?
    – vonbrand
    Mar 3, 2014 at 13:57
  • It is annoying that you can't keep the order of "answers" fixed. Maybe an exception should be granted by the Powers That Are SE for votes like this one?
    – vonbrand
    Mar 3, 2014 at 13:58
  • @vonbrand, to change your vote, I don't think you need to downvote your old preference, just click on the upvote triangle to cancel your upvote.
    – JRN
    Mar 3, 2014 at 14:14
  • @vonbrand as Joel said to change your vote you do not have to downvote but to undo the upvote by clicking on it; then it is as if you had not voted at all you contribute 0 to the score (by contrast if you upvote and then downvote it is as if you had downvoted right away you contribute -1 to the score). So it is certainly not needed for this, and doing it would even result in seomthing other than just undoing the initial vote. More generally, as the options are mutually exclusive (at least this was the intent) I see no reason to have dv, as I do not see what additional info could be conveyed.
    – quid
    Mar 3, 2014 at 16:25
  • Yet on the other hand it would double the voting power of those that use (can use) dv, and also make interpreting the results more difficult for those that do not get the breakup. This is in contrast to the general vote where expressing approval/indifference/disapproval for each does convey some information and thus dv are useful. And on keeping constant order: browse by oldest than it is constant, and for mod electios the display is and rightly so random and changing order so this seems unlikely to happen.
    – quid
    Mar 3, 2014 at 16:29

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
14

I prefer Mathematics Educators but have no strong preference

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  • 3
    Since this site is nearing 100% commitment, I've updated the name to Mathematics Educators based on this vote.
    – Jon 'links in bio' Ericson
    Mar 3, 2014 at 16:37
5

I prefer Mathematics Educators and this is important to me (please explain in a comment why).

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    I dislike abbreviations. The formal name should be, well, formal; informally I'd be fine with say me.stackexchange.com or math-edu.stackexchange.com or such.
    – vonbrand
    Mar 3, 2014 at 13:50
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    Those crazy UK/NZ etc guys prefer maths to math. But Mathematics will satisfy all of us.
    – GEdgar
    Mar 3, 2014 at 15:21
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    I often prefer abbreviations but I believe the math vs maths thing should be avoided. If it was a competition, and I totally don't want it to be, it should be between math and maths. I for one have no interest in suggesting maths. If the site is going to be global then Mathematics is the only neutral choice (given that it's in English). A phrase that typically grates with me and many people I've known is "Do the math". Is that suggesting there is only one, like "Do the dish"?
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 3, 2014 at 22:55
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I prefer Math Educators but have no strong preference.

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  • I think "math" is friendlier than "mathematics", but I sympathize with complaints that it is incompatible with British english.
    – Jim Belk
    Mar 3, 2014 at 15:41
  • @JimBelk If there was a universally acceptable abbreviation I would prefer it as well.
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 3, 2014 at 23:20
1

I prefer Math Educators and this is important to me (please explain in a comment why).

1

The options Math Educators and Mathematics Educators to me are about equal.

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