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{{Short description|Mathematics question and answer website}}
'''MathOverflow''' is a [[mathematics]] [[Comparison of Q&A sites|question-and-answer (Q&A) website]], which serves as an [[online community]] of [[mathematician]]s. It allows users to ask questions, submit answers, and rate both, all while getting merit points for their activities. It is a part of the [[Stack Exchange Network]].
'''MathOverflow''' is a [[mathematics]] [[Comparison of Q&A sites|question-and-answer (Q&A) website]], which serves as an [[online community]] of [[mathematician]]s. It allows users to ask questions, submit answers, and rate both, all while getting merit points for their activities.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/science/open-science-challenges-journal-tradition-with-web-collaboration.html|title=Cracking Open the Scientific Process|first=Thomas|last=Lin|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 16, 2012|access-date=June 4, 2019|archive-date=May 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510145126/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/science/open-science-challenges-journal-tradition-with-web-collaboration.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It is a part of the [[Stack Exchange Network]], but distinct from [https://math.stackexchange.com math.stackexchange.com].
 
It is primarily for asking questions on mathematics research – i.e. related to [[List of unsolved problems in mathematics|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|homework exercises]]. It does welcome various questions on other topics that might normally be discussed among mathematicians, for example about [[Academic publishing|publishing]], [[Peer review|refereeing]], [[Doctoral advisor|advising]], getting [[Tenure (academic)|tenure]], etc. It is generally inhospitable to questions perceived as tendentious or argumentative.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
 
== Origin and history ==
The website was started by [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] graduate students and postdocs Anton Geraschenko, David Zureick-Brown, and ScottKim Morrison on 28 September 2009.<ref>Jared Keller,based on [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/09/beyond-facebook-how-the-worlds-mathematicians-organize-online/63422/ Beyondidea Facebook:of How theSándor WorldKovács's MathematiciansNSF OrganizeCAREER Online],Grant.<ref ''[[The Atlantic]]'', 28 September 2010<name=keller/ref> The hosting was supported by [[Ravi Vakil]].<ref>{{citationcite news |url = http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-neighborhoods/ci_15713739 |newspaper = [[San JoseThe Mercury News]] |date = August 8, 2010 |title = Stanford and UC Berkeley create massively collaborative math |first = Lisa M. |last = Krieger |access-date = February 21, 2014 |archive-date = March 14, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160314001737/http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-neighborhoods/ci_15713739 |url-status = live }}.</ref> The site originally ran on a separate installation of the StackExchange 1.0 software engine; on June 25, 2013, it was integrated in the regular [[Stack Exchange Network]], running SE 2.0.<ref>{{cite web |title = Math Overflow 2.0 |url = http://aperiodical.com/2013/06/mathoverflow-2-0/ |author = Christian Perfect |publisherwork = ''The Aperiodical'' |date = 25 June 2013 |access-date = 19 February 2014 |archive-date = 1 July 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130701140607/http://aperiodical.com/2013/06/mathoverflow-2-0/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
 
=== Naming ===
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== Usage ==
As of April 4, 2012, there have beenwere 16,496 registered users toon MathOverflow,<ref name=MO>{{official website|http://www.mathoverflow.net}}</ref> most of whom havewere beenlocated in the United States (35%), India (12%), and the United Kingdom (6%). More recently, byBy December 11, 2018, the number of registered users hashad grown to 87,850. <ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.sharenator.com/w/mathoverflow.net |title = Sharenator MO Statistics |deadurlurl-status = yesdead |archiveurl = https://archive.istoday/20120909064947/http://www.sharenator.com/w/mathoverflow.net |archivedate = 2012-09-09 |df = }}</ref> SoAs of June far2019, 98123,441448 questions have been posted, or about one for every registered member. Questions are answered an average of 3.9 hours after they are posted, and "Acceptable" answers take an average of 5.01 hours.<ref>{{citeCite web|title=Newest Questions|url = httphttps://wwwmathoverflow.mathcs.emory.edunet/~dzb/slides/MO_slides.pdf questions|author access-date= David Zureick2021-Brown 03-28|title website= MathOverflow (presentation slides) |archive-date = 29 March 2011 2021-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325051914/https://mathoverflow.net/questions|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
In 2011, questions were answered an average of 3.9 hours after they were posted, and "Acceptable" answers took an average of 5.01 hours.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~dzb/slides/MO_slides.pdf |author = David Zureick-Brown |title = MathOverflow (presentation slides) |date = 29 March 2011 |access-date = 25 March 2013 |archive-date = 15 January 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150115110318/http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~dzb/slides/MO_slides.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref>
 
== Reception ==
* [[Terence Tao]] compared it to "the venerable newsgroup ''sci.math'', but with more modern, '[[Web 2.0]]' features.".<ref>{{cite web |url = http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/math-overflow/ |title = Math Overflow |author = Terence Tao |date = 20 October 2009 |access-date = 7 October 2011 |archive-date = 30 September 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110930181313/http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/math-overflow/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* [[John C. Baez]] writes that "website 'Math Overflow' has become a universal clearinghouse for math questions".<ref>{{cite web |author = [[John C. Baez]] |url = httphttps://www.ams.org/notices/201003/rtx100300333p.pdf |title = Math Blogs |publisherjournal = ''[[Notices of the American Mathematical Society|Notices of the AMS]]'' |date = March 2010 |author-link = John C. Baez |page = 333 |volume = 57 |issue = 3 |access-date = 2021-04-28 |archive-date = 2021-05-08 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210508112359/https://www.ams.org/notices/201003/rtx100300333p.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref>
* According to [[Gil Kalai]], MathOverflow "is ran {{sic}} by an energetic and impressive group of very (very very) young people".<ref>{{cite web |url = http://gilkalai.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/math-overflow/ |title = Math Overflow |author = Gil Kalai |date = 13 November 2009 |access-date = 7 October 2011 |archive-date = 5 October 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111005014547/http://gilkalai.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/math-overflow/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* [[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]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://quomodocumque.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/why-math-overflow-works-and-why-it-might-not/ |title = Why Math Overflow works, and why it might not |author = Jordan Ellenberg |date = 17 October 2009 |access-date = 7 October 2011 |archive-date = 2 December 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111202053236/http://quomodocumque.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/why-math-overflow-works-and-why-it-might-not/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 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 ScottKim 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."<ref name=keller>{{cite webmagazine |author = Jared Keller |url = https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/09/beyond-facebook-how-the-worlds-mathematicians-organize-online/63422/ |title = Beyond Facebook: How the World's Mathematicians Organize Online |publishermagazine = ''[[The Atlantic]]'' |date = 28 September 2010 }}</ref>
 
== See also ==
* [[nLab]]
* [[PhysicsOverflow]]
* [[ProofWiki]]
 
== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}
 
==Further reading==
*{{cite conference
| last1 = Tausczik | first1 = Yla R.
| last2 = Kittur | first2 = Aniket
| last3 = Kraut | first3 = Robert E.
| contribution = Collaborative Problem Solving: A Study of MathOverflow
| doi = 10.1145/2531602.2531690
| isbn = 978-1-4503-2540-0
| ___location = New York, NY, USA
| pages = 355–367
| publisher = ACM
| title = Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW '14), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| year = 2014}}
*{{cite conference
| last1 = Montoya | first1 = Leydi Viviana
| last2 = Ma | first2 = Athen
| last3 = Mondragón | first3 = Raúl J.
| editor1-last = Ghoshal | editor1-first = Gourab
| editor2-last = Poncela-Casasnovas | editor2-first = Julia
| editor3-last = Tolksdorf | editor3-first = Robert
| contribution = Social Achievement and Centrality in MathOverflow
| doi = 10.1007/978-3-642-36844-8_3
| ___location = Berlin and Heidelberg
| pages = 27–38
| publisher = Springer
| title = Complex Networks IV: Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Complex Networks (CompleNet 2013)
| year = 2013}}
*{{cite conference
| last1 = Martin | first1 = Ursula
| last2 = Pease | first2 = Alison
| editor1-last = Carette | editor1-first = Jacques
| editor2-last = Aspinall | editor2-first = David
| editor3-last = Lange | editor3-first = Christoph
| editor4-last = Sojka | editor4-first = Petr
| editor5-last = Windsteiger | editor5-first = Wolfgang
| contribution = Mathematical Practice, Crowdsourcing, and Social Machines
| doi = 10.1007/978-3-642-39320-4_7
| ___location = Berlin and Heidelberg
| pages = 98–119
| publisher = Springer
| series = Lecture Notes in Computer Science
| title = Intelligent Computer Mathematics: MKM, Calculemus, DML, and Systems and Projects 2013, Held as Part of the International Conference on Intelligent Computer Mathematics (CICM 2013), Bath, UK, July 8-12, 2013, Proceedings
| volume = 7961
| year = 2013| arxiv = 1305.0900
}}
 
== External links ==