tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Mathematical Controversies)

Grétar Amazeen comments on "Mathematical Controversies" (5849)

2010-06-08T16:06:56-07:00

This question has been substantially edited. As it stands it looks ok and probably should be re-opened.

Harry Gindi comments on "Mathematical Controversies" (5820)

2010-06-08T00:32:05-07:00

I expect that if it's somebody interesting and respectable, he/she will do one of the following:

Fill in a name even if he/she hasn't registered an account
Answer a question
Ask an interesting question

I mean, I could be wrong, but at least in my experience, this has always been the case on MO.

Scott Morrison comments on "Mathematical Controversies" (5816)

2010-06-07T22:58:37-07:00

@Harry, I'm not too keen on the sentiment "I don't think I owe any unknown(google) with 1 rep an explanation for why I voted to close". Remember unknown(google) could be anyone, and that anyone might well be somebody interesting and respectable, even if they haven't yet provided evidence of that yet on MO. I know I often think the same way, but I just wanted to point out that it's dangerous.

Timothy Chow comments on "Mathematical Controversies" (5805)

2010-06-07T17:27:27-07:00

I have to say that I shared Steve Huntsman's bewilderment at the closing of this question. But I think I understand now why different people have different reactions to the question. I believe that the intended question was something like this: It is widely believed that mathematicians have a uniform standard of what constitutes a correct proof. However, this standard has, at minimum, changed over time. What are some striking examples where controversies have arisen over what constitutes a correct proof?

Examples of this include: (1) the acceptability of the use of the axiom of choice; (2) the acceptability of proofs that rely on assuming that a computer has performed a certain computation correctly; (3) the debate over intuitionistic logic versus classical logic; (4) Hilbert's re-examination of Euclid's axioms and his discovery of unstated assumptions therein; (5) debates over the use of infinitesimals in calculus, culminating in Weierstrass's epsilons and deltas. There are of course many others.

Phrased this way, the question does not seem "argumentative and subjective," though one could still debate whether it belongs on MO. However, the problem was that the question was not phrased in quite this way. A "controversy" can arise in many different ways for many different reasons, so a question that just asks for controversies risks eliciting an amorphous grab-bag of examples that don't tell us very much. While I don't think I would vote to reopen even if I had enough rep to do so, I think the question, properly understood, is an excellent one.

Noah Snyder comments on "Mathematical Controversies" (5779)

2010-06-07T09:48:17-07:00

To me 27284 seems much more likely to result in people saying things that are controversial and likely to make Mathoverflow look bad than 13896. Basically because by its nature 13896 involves things that are old and settled, while 27284 involves things that are not settled.

Harry Gindi comments on "Mathematical Controversies" (5770)

2010-06-07T08:47:51-07:00

Perhaps a mod or the community can provide another reason for closing? In anticipation of this I am voting to reopen, though I do think the question should be closed.

Why bother? It's not like it was a good question. Also, it was asked by an unknown(google) with 1 rep. I don't think I owe any unknown(google) with 1 rep an explanation for why I voted to close (although for the record, I believe I voted to close it as "not a real question").

Steve Huntsman comments on "Mathematical Controversies" (5764)

2010-06-07T06:33:25-07:00

So while I thought that the question http://mathoverflow.net/questions/27284/mathematical-controversies-closed was pretty much the same as the question http://mathoverflow.net/questions/13896/what-are-some-famous-rejections-of-correct-mathematics I can't for the life of me understand why the former was closed as "subjective and argumentative" versus (say) "no longer relevant". Now I realize that the available reasons for closing are contrived and that often they are picked at random, but this particular instance strikes me as clearly inconsistent. Perhaps this is my fault for not voting to close myself, but I thought this might be poor form.

Perhaps a mod or the community can provide another reason for closing? In anticipation of this I am voting to reopen, though I do think the question should be closed.