Help:Using Wikipedia for mathematics self-study: Difference between revisions

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==Omissions from the encyclopedia==
 
Mathematics is something that is ''done'' rather than ''read''. A mathematics textbook will contain many problems[[exercise (mathematics)|exercise]]s, and solving them is an essential part of learning mathematics. Wikipedia does not include problemsexercises; by design, Wikipedia is an encyclopedic reference, [[WP:NOTTEXTBOOK|not a textbook]].
 
When it comes to more advanced topics, mathematics is developed, and largely hangs together, by means of the large body of quite formal ''[[Mathematical proof|proofs]]'' that exist in the mathematical literature. Wikipedia does not attempt to condense all of these proofs into encyclopedic form, for reasons that are discussed at length in [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Proofs|another essay]]. Wikipedia assembles the facts uncovered by mathematical investigation, and the definitions underlying the abstract theories. In common with other mathematical encyclopedias, it omits most proofs.