POLYA
Cooperative Solutions of Difficult Problems in Elementary
Mathematics
Frequently Asked Questions
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Question: Why is POLYA web-based and does not simply use emails?
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Answer: This is to make communication and editing/archiving
easier.
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It helps keep the order of the communications.
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It drastically simplifies the editing work. This is the most important
reason. The ultimate goal of POLYA is to edit the communications on a specific
problem into a ``roundtable'' discussion for the Archive. With a vast amount
of emails on many different threads, it is very difficult to sort things
out.
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It also avoids repetition, in storage and transmission, of vast amounts
of information.
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We hope to be able to arrange the pages so that whenever a member submits
something to a certain problem, his/her posting will appear in the form
[Initials, mm/dd/yy]: ....
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Question: How can I keep up with the progress in POLYA if the communications
are not through emails?
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Answer: We hope to be able to send, during the weekdays, an email
notification providing links to updated and new items.
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Question: What kinds of problems may I propose?
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Answer: Any interesting and challenging problem in elementary
mathematics, preferably non-technical in nature.
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It may be a problem of your own.
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It may be an old problem that has appeared in print, but you want to better
understand the printed solution, or to seek an alternative solution.
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It may be a challenging problem from one of the mathematical contests worldwide.
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If you can write a few lines about the background of the problem you proposed,
there is a better chance of stimulating other people's interest in the
problem.
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Please provide bibliographic information as far as you know.
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Question: What if I have unknowingly proposed a problem which has
appeared recently in a journal?
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Answer: No problem. Just let us know, and we shall put it in the
Reserve
Area. You may of course communicate off line with other interested
members, only that as a group POLYA is not competing with other mathematical
journals.
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Question: May I communicate in languages other than English?
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Answer: POLYA is an international forum. We shall speak in one language,
namely, English. However, if you want to make sure that certain statements
you write are precise enough in English, you may want to include them in
your first language so that others may help when clarifications are necessary.
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Last modified by Paul Yiu on November 15, 2001.