Math Is Fun Forum

Zach Alie

Member

From: Al-Bakistan

Registered: 2024-08-19

Posts: 36

Credible place to find help and infromation

I was wondering if im asking questions here from the people and especially the admins and moderators, if they are credible sources of help, i would like to know what qualifications they have and if they are simply math enthusiasts or some have certain qualifications or positions to so that they can be certified to offer cridble and verified information and help, i don't mean to be rude, but i do want to know if the persons i am asking my questions aren't leading me somewhere wrong or don't have the necessary capabilities.

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"what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence" - Christopher Eric Hitchens

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 51,538

Re: Credible place to find help and infromation

I am a Physics graduate. I have experience of 35 years plus before browsing the net, 25 on the net roughly. I concede Rod and Bob much more experience. I verify facts before posting, as a rule.

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

Zach Alie

Member

From: Al-Bakistan

Registered: 2024-08-19

Posts: 36

Re: Credible place to find help and infromation

thank for clarifiying that, also is Rod the mathisfun admin and are rod and bob also physics or maths or related graduates like you.

Last edited by Zach Alie (2025-08-27 22:13:19)

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"what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence" - Christopher Eric Hitchens

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 51,538

Re: Credible place to find help and infromation

I forgot to mention; zetafunc, Moderator is Brilliant, just like Rod, and Bob!

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,790

Re: Credible place to find help and infromation

hi Zach,

That's a reasonable question to ask but, interestingly, no one ever has, before you.

I have a maths degree and have taught maths and computing throughout my career.  I was a head of department for a while.

I only answer questions when I'm reasonably confident I can answer correctly.  But, as with anything you get from the internet, you have to weigh up its accuracy.  I am always willing to add more detail to my posts, so, if you want to consider a proof in more detail, I'll always be willing to do that.

Sometimes, when no one has come up with a response and my own knowledge is nil, I'll 'google it' and provide any link that looks helpful.  There have been occasions when I have no knowledge of what the poster is after but still think I can help in which case a long dialogue may ensue.  As an example, some years back a Canadian asked for help with drilling a hole in a piece of timber. It took several posts to establish that he had the timber mounted in a lathe and could adjust the angles in several ways.  He wanted to drill at a certain angle after he had made two rotations about different axes.  I taught him three dimensional vector geometry and, in particular, how to apply a rotation matrix to coordinates. With that he was able to do the calculations and make his hole on a test piece.  It worked!

There's one problem that was posted years ago which no one could fully answer.  One route to an answer seemes to be via contour integration although there's a big step with the algebra needed first.  I asked my son to help because he is a much better mathematician than me, and he did that missing step with the algebra (in his head!)  I've still got the problem in my subscription list and I hope to complete it one day soon.

Bob

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Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob

Zach Alie

Member

From: Al-Bakistan

Registered: 2024-08-19

Posts: 36

Re: Credible place to find help and infromation

Thanks for clarifying that. As i had been a bit uneasy when i mentioned this forum to a friend, he asked me if my sources were credible and if the people answering were qualified to answer, because as far as he was aware any random dude could start a website, and i myself felt that what did i know of these people to so strongly believe in their workings, the facbook math groups have conveniently enough the discriptions of a persons occupation, qualifications and the related information so you atleast know who you're getting into, that makes it much easier and gives you a kind of mental security that you can be at well asking this person, partly i think the contributing reason for the fame of facebook math groups, although i will confess that i like this forum a lot and thanks to the current clarifications i thus would like to continue using this forum, thank you for the help and clearing up of my thoughts Bob and Jai Ganesh.

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"what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence" - Christopher Eric Hitchens