User talk:Conskeptical
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A good resource for mathematicians is also Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics and its talk page. Enjoy! Oleg Alexandrov 17:00, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] interpretational notes on mathematics articles
Hi Oleg, I've been reading around the maths area a lot more lately, and it doesn't seem to have many notes to help with interpretation. The articles seem great for people who need a refresher, but not so great for people needing to solidify their understanding (maybe this parallels a possible general tendency for mathematical education to focus on notation and have a total lack of essay-writing etc.). Is this is a deliberate policy or could I start adding interpretational notes without causing a ruckus? (on principle that is, maybe my style or content will cause a ruckus, but that's another matter!) Conskeptical 12:36, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- I agree with you that some articles could need to be more elementary or explained in more detail. On the other hand, this is an encyclopedia, and not a collection of lessons; one also cannot in great depth at every step. So, there is some balance to strike.
- You are certainly welcome to modify articles to make them easier to understand of course. To not cause much ruckus, as you say, probably it is good to do that carefully, on an article by article basis, maybe first asking on the talk page and such.
- So, back to your original question. I don't think there is a delibirate policy to write articles which are hard to understand by non-specialists. It is just, for a given article, the contributors to it probably thought that's the best way they can write it. That's why your contributions are very welcome, again, as long as there is some consultation on the talk page.
- If you would like a community-wide discussion of this, you could also post your thoughts at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mathematics. And let me know if I was not specific enough about some things. Cheers, Oleg Alexandrov 15:16, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Welcome
Hello there Conskeptical!!! Welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay.
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Randy Johnston 21:18, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
