Requests for Reopen Votes

[REOPENED] The question How to define a well-order on $\mathbb R$? were closed recently due to the confusing nature of the word "define".

If by "define" we wish to mean "explicitly describe without any appeal to the axiom of choice" then it is indeed a duplicate. However as the comments clarify, this is not the case.

I believe, if so, that it is not a duplicate of the question it was closed as a duplicate of (or any of the questions in the links in the comments I posted, as well).

Thank you Andres Caicedo, rschwieb, Belgi, Matt Pressland.

[REOPENED] I would like to see

Properties of the number 50

reopens.

With $13$ upvotes it is clear that there are members of th comunity that find it to be interesting, and I recall such a question here (that asked for integrals and etc' with the value being someones age was not closed).

[REOPENED. I cast the binding fourth vote on behalf of myself and Bill Dubuque]

This question: Prove $f(S \cap T) \subseteq f(S) \cap f(T)$ was voted to be closed as a duplicate of Is this a valid proof of $f(S \cap T) \subseteq f(S) \cap f(T)$?

However, the question asked actually was different. The latter asks for the readers to check whether the OP gave a valid proof (he didn't, and counterexamples were given as answers). The former asks for a proof. The closest answer we have on the latter to this question is this sketch of a proof. So I don't really think the two are exact duplicates of each other.

(The other proposed duplicate target is a mistake, as noted in the comments.)

[REOPENED] I would like the following: is $0.\overline{99}$ the same as $\lim_{x \to 1} x$?

to be reopened. The question is currently closed as a duplicate of Does .99999... = 1?.

While I agree that at the base is indeed that $0.\overline{9}$ = 1, but the OP actually says that he/she knows the proof of this. It seems like the question is more about the confusion about the function that is introduced in the question. While the question might not be worded perfectly, I don't think that it should be closed.

[REOPENED] Show that floating point sqrt(x*x) >= x for all long x.

I would like to see this question reopened. I believe it is a valid numerical analysis question.

[REOPENED] I would like to see the question on "mathematics in the movies" reopened. It asks about feature films depicting math, and/or mathematicians. I think it is at least as relevant to math, and this site, as are many other "soft questions" that still stand as open. After all, we DO have tags "math history", "education", "big-list", etc.. If questions relevant to those tags are thereby subject to closure, then the tags should be removed from this site; else, they are appropriate topics on which to post.

If reopened, I think it might very well be appropriate to "wikify" the post (community wiki), but this question has merit.

ADDED, to answer Marvis's comment below: This post is not a "strict subset" of the post to which Marvis provides a link. They are sufficiently different posts to warrant separate consideration. (See for example, Rahul's reply to Marvis).

[REOPENED] I would like this question:

Field Extensions of cos and sin

to be reopened. The question was closed as a duplicate of Degree of field extension. Bit IMO, the questions are different. The closed one is about whether a specific proof is correct, not just a question about how to prove it (like the other question).

I am attempting to have the following reopened- it is not a duplicate as is evident. Card game-ordering a deck

[REOPENED] I would like Covariant derivative on hypersurface in $\mathbb{R}^n$ reopened. It was closed as duplicate but I don't think the answer in the question it's supposedly a duplicate of answers all of the interesting questions the OP has raised.

I propose that we should reopen this question question, and posted my reason in the comments.

It was closed as an exact duplicate of a thread asking how to evaluate a Gaussian integral. But actually, the question was why, when one converts from Cartesian to polar coordinates, $dx\,dy$ gets replaced by $r\,dr\,d\theta$. That's not what the other question was about. There are other ways to evaluate the Gaussian integral than by polar coordinates, and those other ways would be appropriate answers to that older question, but not to this one. In some ways, the presence of a Gaussian integral in this question is incidental. It was really only the particular occasion for the question about polar coordinates.

[MIGRATED] I would like to see What are the chances my wife has lupus? reopened.

• The stated reason for the closure ("not constructive") does not apply. There were answers, and they were supported by facts. The question did not solicit debate or arguments. There was a meta-debate, but it was about the appropriateness of the question, not its content; considering such a debate as a reason for closure would be circular, as one could then get questions closed simply by starting a debate on whether they should be closed. Nor is there any reason to expect that the question will solicit debate or arguments in the future. The question does fit our Q&A format; a question was posed and answers were given; that the answers were of the form "the question can't be answered because there's not enough information" is quite a common occurrence and not a reason for closure.
• The stated reason for the closure bears no relationship to the reasons for closure given in the comments. The reasons given in the comment are not valid reasons for closure. Personal opinions on whether the OP should or shouldn't try to assess the chances of his wife having a serious disease by asking a question on a math Q&A site shouldn't enter into the decision whether this question is suitable for this site. It's the OP's decision and not ours whether he wants to ask this question here.
• There were two answers at the time of closure, which had several upvotes and contained information potentially valuable to the OP. Even those who commented on problematic aspects of asking such a question on such a site can hopefully agree that it's good if the OP knows that there's not enough information in his question to answer the question.
• I don't know the current status of the close vote cancelling policy proposal; it may or may not be relevant that I cast a no-close vote in a comment, no-one cancelled it and it received three upvotes.

[REOPENED]The question A question about a series with a strange property? should be re-opened. As the OP remarked the supposed duplicate does not actually answer the question posed.

(More details: the supposed duplicate has two questions in it. One without sign restrictions. The other restricting to positive series. An answer was given and accepted for the latter. But no answer was given for the former. The new question explicitly asks for the former.)

[REOPENED] I would like to see this post reopened.

It is clear that it generated a lot of thought about relations, their properties, etc. Many questions of this nature are posted to this site, and are not closed as "non-constructive." Many students are very interested in "real-life" applications/interpretations of the math they are learning. ${}$

[REOPENED] This question about a set containing itself was closed as "not a real question", with both posted answers interpreting it as a tautology that $X \subseteq X$. However, the question is really about the paradox $X \in X$; the word contains can have another meaning as $\ni$, and the question actually mentions the axiom of regularity! Granted, it's not a great question, and is easily resolved by prodding the asker about the definition of set complement, but that doesn't make it "not a real question".

[REOPENED] Please reopen From a mathematician's point of view, what is the purpose of '$dx$' in $\int f(x)\ dx$?. I had written out (what I thought of as) a nice answer, then just before trying to post it, it was closed as a duplicate of What is $dx$ in integration?.

However, this question is different since it deals with the difference in the way physicists and mathematicians understand $dx$ (something that my answer was going to address).

[REOPENED] I would like to see What is (the definition of) mathematics? reopened. It has 4 reopen votes now. It needs only one more. There was an enormous amount of debate about the question's merit, but I believe it was asked in earnest, it has been asked before, it will be asked again, so I think having answers is the right thing to do, and in the future, the post can be linked to other such questions, as they arise, for duplication purposes.

This is a 'request to reopen' post, not a "debate" post.

Please, if there are strong feelings about this, or for any debate as to how or whether such a question can be answered, let's move the debate to a separate thread to debate whether mathematics can be defined, or its scope delineated in any way so as to serve as a guide for what is appropriate to post at MATHEMATICS.SE.

I am trying to get

Let $G$ be a finite abelian group. Let $a\in G$ be an element of maximal order. Prove $|b|$ divides $|a|$ for all $b\in G. A\: different \: proof\: $

reopened. It was closed as a duplicate of Prove that for any element $b$, $|b|$ divides $|a|$ (order of $b$ divides order of $a$). and Finite abelian group generated by elements of maximal order. True the question has been answered, but I haven been given another outline of a proof for this and would really appreciate it if i could get some feedback on this version of the proof for this question

[REOPENED] This question has 3 votes to close as being an exact duplicate of this one, though both are completely different questions. Kindly pause and check if the two questions are really duplicate of each other, before voting to close them as duplicates.

[Re-opened] I voted to close How to create a function using the following? because it was very badly presented, and it got closed. OP has improved the question to the point where I think it can be answered, so I have voted to reopen.

[Re-opened] I'd like to suggest reopening What is importance of the Bunyakovsky conjecture?. The question in the body, "how important do you consider the answer to this problem", may well be "too soft", but the question in the title seems to me to be a solid mathematical question.

[REOPENED] probability and permutation and combination looks no worse than a lot of questions on the site, and leads to some interesting mathematics (as per the answer I posted before the question was closed). Please consider voting to reopen.

I would like to request Motivation for the Tensor Product be reopened as I do not think it is a duplicate of and Motivation for Tensor Product.

The latter question asks "We already have Direct Product, Semi-direct products, so after all why do we need Tensor Product?", which is a question about why multilinearity is in general useful.

The former question (which was closed as a duplicate) asks "What's the reason/motivation to define the tensor product using the free vector space and that quotient to impose linearity? Can someone point me out the motivation for that definition?". These are questions about the specific construction of the tensor prodct, and NOT the general usefulness of multilinearity properties.

[RECLOSED] How are arrays defined with GAP?

I really hope we can get past this anti-computer attitude. If you don't want to do computational mathematics, that's fine, but please don't obstruct the participants who do. Just ignore the tags if you don't like the questions.

"We welcome questions about: ... Software that mathematicians use" - FAQ.

It's a reasonable question and the current answer lists only one way to create arrays in GAP. There is still more to be learned.

For the same reason, I voted these to be reopened:

How do I break MAGMA?

and

[REOPENED] How does the function CycleIndex work in GAP? ( undocumented in GAP )

[REOPENED] In this question, the OP has edited to point out why the question isn't a duplicate. Please reopen.

[REOPENED] I would like to see How to prove the earning decomposition of 2 people in mediocristan and extremistan? reopened. Please note that a highly reputed user has added a comment saying: "I would like to reopen and answer."

[REOPENED]

Reciprocal sum equal to $1$

The above is not a duplicate of Unusual 5th grade problem, how to solve it

The problem wants to find the minimum solution of an objective, subject to a constraint.

[REOPENED]

The question Probability of random integer's digits summing to 12 was recently closed despite several well-supported requests in the comments that it not be closed (two of the close votes came after these comments were posted) and despite that it was a legitimate question, well-posed, clear, and attracted several constructive answers.

[REOPENED] This question was closed as a duplicate (by a single binding moderator vote). However, the question is certainly not a duplicate of the linked question, since the author is asking additionally a more general question, namely "What are those number theoretic situations?" (where the unit group is cyclic). This is an interesting question that is not addressed at all in the proposed duplicate.