MathOverflow: Difference between revisions

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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.<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 based on the idea of Sándor Kovács's NSF CAREER Grant.<ref name=keller/> The hosting was supported by [[Ravi Vakil]].<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-neighborhoods/ci_15713739 |newspaper = [[The 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 |work = 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 were 16,496 registered users on MathOverflow,<ref name=MO>{{official website|http://www.mathoverflow.net}}</ref> most of whom were located in the United States (35%), India (12%), and the United Kingdom (6%). By December 11, 2018, the number of registered users had grown to 87,850.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.sharenator.com/w/mathoverflow.net |title = Sharenator MO Statistics |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://archive.istoday/20120909064947/http://www.sharenator.com/w/mathoverflow.net |archivedate = 2012-09-09 }}</ref> As of June 2019, 103123,308448 questions have been posted.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Newest Questions|url=https://mathoverflow.net/questions|access-date=2021-03-28|website=MathOverflow|archive-date=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 |journal = [[Notices of the American Mathematical Society]] |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 magazine |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 |magazine = [[The Atlantic]] |date = 28 September 2010 }}</ref>

== See also ==