5

Proposal: Mathematical ideas

We already have

How many more stackexchange sites about math do we need?

  • 1
    The main problem is not that it would be one more math site; look how many "computer sites" there are on the network. The problem I see is that it is unclear what it would be about and in which way it would complement the others. – quid Oct 15 '14 at 21:37
  • In fact there are other sites with similar goals. For example askubuntu can be a subset of unix.se and both together with superuser and webapps can be a subset of stackoverflow. Or ell.se can be a subset of english.se. – user138171 Oct 15 '14 at 22:33
  • But I think sometimes different sites can be better than different tags because in a new site, specific users will be attracted which will allow specific type of questions. – user138171 Oct 15 '14 at 22:34
  • For example, in physics.se the existing majority hardly allow questions on Newtonian mechanics. As a result many questions with this tag are closed: physics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/newtonian-mechanics But if there's another site for such unwelcome tags, such questions will survive and will receive answers. – user138171 Oct 15 '14 at 22:35
  • (at)quid: Mathematical ideas is going to contain (interesting) questions why run through mind without any rigorous background. Such questions are unwelcome in math.se (in which one needs to explain where he has encountered such a question and show what they had tried to answer). mathoverflow is for research level advanced questions. But the question in Mathematical ideas need not be advanced. they can be even interesting chanellenges as long as questions are new. – user138171 Oct 15 '14 at 22:40
  • @user138171 So you want a clone of math.se and mathoverflow, just with a lower quality standard? – Philipp Oct 16 '14 at 7:28
  • @Philip: No. math.se questions are not allowed in Mathematical ideas except those with something new and mathematical idea's questions are not welcome there. – user138171 Oct 16 '14 at 11:15
2

I have a hard time seeing how this site could be successful. It is true that math.SE and MO rather discourage the presentation of "mathematical ideas." However, this is not for some arbitrary reason, but quite simply as this type of "question" does not seem well-suited for the format, as often it is not an actual answerable question.

To put it differently: a question suitable for an SE site with the given subject, should be on ontopic on MO or math.SE. If it is not ontopic there, it likely will not work in the SE format, which--circling back--is why they are not ontopic there.

  • I'm not sure if you are answereing the OP. btw, of the 5 proposed question all are eligible for close-votes in math.se the because the OP did show what they tried or where the question is from and many will not notice the new ideas and will regard them as student problems. I think they are also unwelcome in mathoverflow. Especially after it joined se because they may not be research orieneted. If se is not good for it, which type of forum will be appropriate? – user138171 Oct 19 '14 at 0:06
  • However there can be a more general site about new ideas or inventions. However, if there is such general site for new ideas I'm sure mathematical tags will become unwelcome. – user138171 Oct 19 '14 at 0:08
  • It is true that I did not answer the question in a literal sense. If you want a more direct answer: while there might be room for more math sites, this one is not a good idea. – quid Oct 28 '14 at 15:00

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