Timeline for What kinds of mathematics do we consider computer science enough to be ontopic here?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 26, 2013 at 7:18 | comment | added | Raphael Mod | For the record, here is another pure mathematics question that apparently has strong connections to CS (which remain unexplained by the author) and has thus been defended as ontopic by several community members. | |
Aug 18, 2013 at 19:54 | comment | added | Peter Shor | I agree that we should phrase the migration statement so as not to offend anybody. | |
Aug 18, 2013 at 19:44 | comment | added | Raphael Mod | @PeterShor Again, I don't oppose redirecting/migrating answers to a place that is better for them, as long as we don't tell the users they had posted an offtopic question. | |
Aug 18, 2013 at 18:15 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @Raphael: And here is a question which sat around for a month with no good answers, and which would probably have been answered fairly quickly if somebody who knew information theory had looked at it. I realize that we don't have an information-theory stack exchange, but there's no reason to let the same thing happen with math questions. | |
Aug 18, 2013 at 16:54 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @Raphael: On the other hand, I suspect wookie919's question would have been more likely to get a good answer in math.SE or stats.SE (I think I gave him one, but I don't know whether he would have gotten a good answer if I hadn't seen it. And my answer in part answers his question by linking to an answer in mathoverflow.SE). | |
Aug 18, 2013 at 16:38 | comment | added | Raphael Mod | wookie919 seems to disagree. Besides, I have certainly posed very academic asymptotics problems to students which I don't think have any relevance to practice. So I still don't get the distinction you make. | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 12:27 | comment | added | Yuval Filmus | 2) Asymptotic analysis is a core "subject" which is actually used in TCS practice. Elementary combinatorics not so much. Contrived questions that one gets as homework, not at all. | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 7:18 | comment | added | Raphael Mod | 1) "being taught in CS degrees and its concepts being useful later on" sounds like something has plenty to do with CS, even if not in its immediate form. I know that GPK's Concrete Mathematics contains a fair share of combinatorics, and I am tempted to shuffle through TAoCP to see how much "elementary" combinatorics is directly used there. 2) Again, I'd like to hear your justification for keeping all the (elementary) asymptotics questions under your reasoning. | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 6:43 | comment | added | Yuval Filmus | Random graph theory falls between "classical" mathematics and computer science, which is why you can find it in both kinds of departments. A question belonging to such a gray area should be answered in both relevant sites. I don't feel that elementary combinatorics is such a gray area. For me, it's just a mathematical trifle that has nothing to do with computer science, other than being taught in CS degrees (alongside calculus, say), and its concepts being useful later on. | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 6:39 | comment | added | Raphael Mod | I share your concern -- at my university, it's some mathematicians who seem to do computer science. But: is this really for us to decide, or even worthwhile to discuss here? Let that "fight" be fought elsewhere. | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 6:37 | comment | added | Yuval Filmus | 3) If the questions are less elementary then it should be more clear cut. If they arise in a CS context, then they're CS. Otherwise, they aren't. This is also a problem in some departments of computer science. For example, my department has a random graph theorist - is that really computer science? | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 6:11 | comment | added | Raphael Mod | 4) Finally, your guideline seems extremely ill-advised to me. The mere fact that another site covers a topic does not make it offtopic here. We have had the same discussion with reversed roles with/on Mathematics. Another example is the Stack Overflow <-> Computer Science relationship. As you have noted, sciences are connected (intertwined, arguably) so I don't think there is only one place for every question. | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 6:09 | comment | added | Raphael Mod | 1) My problem with this, as explained above, is that it disqualifies many questions we have been entertaining are offtopic by your ruling (e.g. asymptotics questions). I feel like we don't want that. 2) I very consciously wrote "mathematics used in CS", not "TCS", because some areas of mathematics are used more outside of TCS (take e.g. computer graphics or AI). 3) Furthermore, your examples both use the word "elementary". How do I have to read that? Do you want to keep similar questions if they are non-elementary? | |
Aug 16, 2013 at 4:14 | history | answered | Yuval Filmus | CC BY-SA 3.0 |