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From: Ken Pledger on 19 Jul 2010 23:50

��These notes are not official in any way, but if you are new to this
group you may find them helpful.

1. ���Messages posted to <sci.math> may be about mathematics at any
level. �Please don't post OT (off-topic) messages about other things.

Be cautious about cross-posting (posting the same message to more than
one news group) - see section 6 below.

Some questions may have better luck in a more specialized news group
such as <sci.stat.math>, <sci.logic> or <sci.math.num-analysis>.

2. ���Your subject heading should show what sort of mathematics is in
your message. �For example, "Differentiating trig functions" is a good
subject, but "Help!" is a bad subject.

3. ���Include the text of your question in your message itself, even if
you also refer to a Web page for a good diagram.

4. ���Type mathematical formulae in the ordinary ASCII characters on
your keyboard.

Use �^ �for powers, for example �aaaa = a^4 .

You will rarely need * for multiplication, but use plenty of
brackets/parentheses. �For example, �e^2x/5 �could mean �
(e^2)x/5 �or �(e^(2x))/5 �or �e^(2x/5).

Use plenty of spaces. �For example, ��2x + 5y = 12 ��is easier to read
than ��2x+5y=12.

5. ���This news group is open to everybody. �Some people have bad
manners, and some cranks presume to know more mathematics than they
really do. �You may be wise to ignore their messages. �There are plenty
of users who want to discuss mathematics without rude arguments. �I hope
you enjoy being one of them.

6. ���You may want more information.

If you are struggling with Google Groups or Math Forum, some better news
servers and other helpful ideas are in William Elliot's message
<http://groups.google.com/group/sci.math/msg/2ac5e052b3919868>.

Some good general advice about news groups, cross-posting, not
multi-posting or top-posting, etc. is Stan Brown's "Playing Nice on
Usenet" web site
<http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/unice.htm>.

For mathematical news groups there are detailed FAQ at �
<http://aah.ryan-usa.com/> �and the older �
<http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/math-faq/math-faq.html>.
In particular, more details about typing formulae are at �
<http://aah.ryan-usa.com/node15.html>.

SPECIAL REQUEST. �Rog�rio Brito <rbrito(a)ime.usp.br> is revising the
above older FAQ. �He is keen to receive comments on his draft
at �<http://rb.doesntexist.org/docs/math-faq-2009-10-29.tar.xz>
or �<http://rb.doesntexist.org/docs/math-faq.pdf>.
His LaTeX files are at �<http://math-faq.git.sourceforge.net/>.
New and old users are very welcome to tell him of any difficulties with
it.


��������Ken Pledger.


[Suggestions for shortening or clarifying these notes are welcome.]
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