Timeline for Should pure math questions be on topic?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
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| Apr 17, 2014 at 15:09 | comment | added | MBN | "Smart physicists ask math questions to mathematicians all the time -- this is no different." Are you saying that smart physicists would ask a math question at Math.SE, hence if someone asks a math question here he is not a smart physicist? Also where is it more likely for a physicist to ask his math question at the physics department or walk over to the math department, find someone who is willing to answer and then possibly explain to him that this was not what he was asking and so on? | |
| Apr 16, 2014 at 7:56 | comment | added | N. Virgo | Smart physicists ask math questions to mathematicians all the time, but for some types of math question you're just better off asking a physicist. "If a mathematician who doesn't know physics can do the job equally or better" would be a very difficult criterion to apply in practice. | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 15:43 | history | edited | SklivvzMod | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 15, 2014 at 15:42 | comment | added | Hunter | Ok, thanks. I couldn't disagree more with your point of view, but everybody has the right to their opinion. | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 15:28 | comment | added | Sklivvz Mod | Smart physicists ask math questions to mathematicians all the time -- this is no different. | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 15:27 | comment | added | Sklivvz Mod | To be even more clear: one can talk about DE without talking about conservation laws. That would make those pure maths. If one is trying to understand how DE apply to conservation laws, it's not pure math. If someone has a question (say) on a purely mathematical notation of tensor calculus, it should go, but if the question touches physics, or anything which is better explained by a physicist, which includes questions about passages of physics textbooks, then they should stay. The principle: if a mathematician who doesn't know physics can do the job equally or better, then migrate away. | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 15:20 | comment | added | Hunter | Just for clarification on your last comment: if someone has a question about differential geometry which is absolutely vital to understand the Einstein equations, then it should be migrated anyway? For instance, the majority of questions related to chapter 2 & 3 (i.e. introductory chapters) of Sean Carroll's General Relativity (a physics subject) book should be migrated? | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 14:48 | comment | added | tpg2114 | It does but I'm not sure I agree with how you define pure math :) Where do we draw the line on "required" physical knowledge? One could argue any conservation law requires physics to understand while another could argue it's just an X order (O|P)DE which could be handled as "pure math" also. Just some things to think on. | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 14:26 | comment | added | Sklivvz Mod | @tpg2114 Thanks, see if my edit addresses your comment! | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 14:25 | history | edited | SklivvzMod | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 15, 2014 at 14:20 | comment | added | tpg2114 |
I didn't vote (up or down) but I'm not clear what your intention is. In my mind your analogy could also be Math.SE : Physics.SE = English.SE : Writers.SE which seems to support the "no math here" approach. But then your second paragraph seems to say that math is okay here if it's about physics. So I guess I'm just unclear exactly on where you fall -- plus your answer doesn't meet the two things DavidZ asked for an "ideal" answer: a set of criteria and wording for the help page.
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| Apr 15, 2014 at 7:59 | comment | added | Sklivvz Mod | Please use the comments only to talk about this particular answer. You can talk about your diatribe in Physics Chat. | |
| Apr 14, 2014 at 22:31 | comment | added | Sklivvz Mod | Maybe a comment is better than a mere downvote, no? | |
| Apr 14, 2014 at 22:24 | history | answered | SklivvzMod | CC BY-SA 3.0 |