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Re: Re: Complex solutions to simple equations

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg104893] Re: [mg104845] Re: Complex solutions to simple equations
• From: Andrzej Kozlowski <akoz at mimuw.edu.pl>
• Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:08:20 -0500 (EST)
• References: <hd3mr5$9pv$1@smc.vnet.net> <hd6cg3$pf5$1@smc.vnet.net> <hd8sf9$5vo$1@smc.vnet.net> <hdbh6a$jbv$1@smc.vnet.net> <200911110930.EAA29480@smc.vnet.net>

On 11 Nov 2009, at 18:30, David Bailey wrote:

> AES wrote:
>> In article <hd8sf9$5vo$1 at smc.vnet.net>,
>> dragonman <morrisneedleman at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> For goodness sake I am a teacher. Feel free to google me. Its
>>> Mathematica's representation of solutions I wanted. Feel free to
>>> apologise any time.
>>> Many thanks to the helpful posters above.
>>
>> A very nice reply! -- and one I'd hope may have some impact on this
>> group.
>>
>> Out of curiosity, did your personal background or vocabulary
>> (pre-Mathematica) include some conceptual understanding of any of the
>> terms
>>
>>   local vs global variables
>>   functional vs procedural programming
>>   mapping
>>
>> as they are used in Mathematica?
>>
> Well I am sorry if I made a mistake here, but we do get a fair few
> students trying to get homework questions answered here. The usual
> response to such questions is along the lines of my original reply.
>
> What do you think we should do with such questions, AES - simply reply
> regardless?
>
> David Park has given a solution, so I guess there is nothing more to be
> said.
>
> David Bailey
> http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk
>

I will like to add that it is a matter of basic courtesy for someone posting a question to insure that:

(i)  anyone answering it will not have to go into avoidable trouble of re-reformulating it using proper Mathematica syntax, guess missing data etc., etc.

(ii) the reasons for asking a question, be it research, commercial work or homework assignments etc. are clearly explained.

Nowadays I usually ignore questions that do not satisfy these conditions. I wish more people adopted a similar policy - answering certain kinds of questions may actually be doing more harm than good.

In other words, I think in this case David Bailey did exactly the right thing and has no need at all to apologise.

Andrzej Kozlowski

• References:
  • Re: Complex solutions to simple equations
    • From: David Bailey <dave@removedbailey.co.uk>