MathOverflow

MathOverflow

MathOverflow is an interactive mathematics website, which serves both as a collaborative blog and an online community of mathematicians. It allows users to ask questions, submit answers, and rate both, all while getting brownie points for their activities. It is modeled after Stack Overflow, a similar forum for computer programming questions, and uses the StackExchange software engine.

It is primarily for asking questions on mathematics research – i.e. related to unsolved problems and the extension of knowledge of mathematics into areas that are not yet known – and does not welcome requests from non-mathematicians for instruction, for example homework exercises. It does welcome various questions on other topics that might normally be discussed among mathematicians, for example about publishing, refereeing, advising, getting tenure, etc. It is generally inhospitable to questions perceived as tendentious or argumentative.

Contents

Origin

The website was started by Berkeley graduate students and postdocs Anton Geraschenko, David Zureick-Brown, and Scott Morrison on 28 September 2009.[1] The first version of the website did not support LaTeX markup for mathematical formulas, which was added later. The hosting is supported by Ravi Vakil.[2]

Naming

According to MathOverflow FAQ, the proper spelling is "MathOverflow" rather than "Math Overflow".

Quotes

  • Terence Tao characterized it as "venerable newsgroup sci.math, but with more modern, 'Web 2.0' features."[3]
  • John C. Baez writes that "website 'Math Overflow' has become a universal clearinghouse for math questions".[4]
  • According to Gil Kalai, MathOverflow "is ran [sic] by an energetic and impressive group of very (very very) young people".[5]
  • Jordan Ellenberg comments that the website "offers a constantly changing array of new questions" and is "addictive" in a "particularly pure form", as he compares it to the PolyMath project.[6]
  • Jared Keller in The Atlantic writes, "Math Overflow is almost an anti-social network, focused solely on productively addressing the problems posed by its users." He quotes Scott Morrison saying "Mathematicians as a whole are surprisingly skeptical of many aspects of the modern Internet... In particular, things like Facebook, Twitter, etc. are viewed as enormous wastes of time."[7]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Jared Keller, Beyond Facebook: How the World's Mathematicians Organize Online, The Atlantic, 28 September 2010
  2. ^ MathOverflow Frequently Asked Questions.
  3. ^ Math Overflow, Terence Tao blog, 20 October, 2009.
  4. ^ John C. Baez, Math Blogs, Notices of the AMS, March 2010.
  5. ^ Math Overflow, Gil Kalai's blog, November 13, 2009.
  6. ^ Why Math Overflow works, and why it might not, Jordan Ellenberg's blog, 17 October, 2009.
  7. ^ Jared Keller, Beyond Facebook: How the World's Mathematicians Organize Online, The Atlantic, September 28, 2010.

External links


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