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From: AK on 17 Jun 2010 08:51
Hi,

I often want to ask questions on this group from what I'm currently
reading (both physical textbooks and online documents) but I'm put off
by the amount of math symbols and notation I would have to transfer to
this plain text environment just to pose a small question.

Would it be okay to refer to previews from google books (although that
could be a bit inconsistent, depending on what random page google
decides you can't look at), or (preferably) to link small screenshots
of a portion of a page containing the context of my question, so I can
save myself the time and trouble of transcribing the math, and at the
same time make it easier for the person reading the question? (Also I
know many people use newsreaders to read newsgroups, but i don't know
how those work, so whether there would be any issues there).

It seems this group is unmoderated so technically I might do whatever
I wanted (and some people on here seem to stretch that liberty to the
max), but I know there are quitw a few smart and helpful folks here
who make time to help out others, so I don't want to do something to
turn them off from answering my questions.

Or if anyone has any better ideas, please let me know.

Thank you,
AK
From: Chip Eastham on 17 Jun 2010 10:43
On Jun 17, 8:51 am, AK <selfstud...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I often want to ask questions on this group from what I'm currently
> reading (both physical textbooks and online documents) but I'm put off
> by the amount of math symbols and notation I would have to transfer to
> this plain text environment just to pose a small question.
>
> Would it be okay to refer to previews from google books (although that
> could be a bit inconsistent, depending on what random page google
> decides you can't look at), or (preferably) to link small screenshots
> of a portion of a page containing the context of my question, so I can
> save myself the time and trouble of transcribing the math, and at the
> same time make it easier for the person reading the question? (Also I
> know many people use newsreaders to read newsgroups, but i don't know
> how those work, so whether there would be any issues there).
>
> It seems this group is unmoderated so technically I might do whatever
> I wanted (and some people on here seem to stretch that liberty to the
> max), but I know there are quitw a few smart and helpful folks here
> who make time to help out others, so I don't want to do something to
> turn them off from answering my questions.
>
> Or if anyone has any better ideas, please let me know.
>
> Thank you,
> AK

Hi, AK:

As a general observation I think I would be reluctant
to go clicking around on random links provided in a
newsgroup post unless the problem to be solved were
already discernable from the post and the usefulness
of the linked material was clear.

Specifically as regards snippets viewable in Google
Books, I've resorted to looking them up myself from
a title/author/page citation in a newsgroup post,
but Google Books visibility has been reported to
vary by country (in threads of this newsgroup). So
directly relying on links may prove frustrating.

Of course really elaborate symbols/formulas may be
tedious to layout in a readable ASCII form, but it
would be the most convincing way to solicit help
from sci.math frequent "flyers".

regards, chip
From: Rob Johnson on 17 Jun 2010 11:34
In article <be492db9-c138-4616-a2b7-60cee7b83ae6(a)b35g2000yqi.googlegroups.com>,
AK <selfstudier(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>I often want to ask questions on this group from what I'm currently
>reading (both physical textbooks and online documents) but I'm put off
>by the amount of math symbols and notation I would have to transfer to
>this plain text environment just to pose a small question.
>
>Would it be okay to refer to previews from google books (although that
>could be a bit inconsistent, depending on what random page google
>decides you can't look at), or (preferably) to link small screenshots
>of a portion of a page containing the context of my question, so I can
>save myself the time and trouble of transcribing the math, and at the
>same time make it easier for the person reading the question? (Also I
>know many people use newsreaders to read newsgroups, but i don't know
>how those work, so whether there would be any issues there).
>
>It seems this group is unmoderated so technically I might do whatever
>I wanted (and some people on here seem to stretch that liberty to the
>max), but I know there are quitw a few smart and helpful folks here
>who make time to help out others, so I don't want to do something to
>turn them off from answering my questions.
>
>Or if anyone has any better ideas, please let me know.

Providing a link to something is always acceptable (whereas attaching
images, PDFs, etc. to a post is frowned on since some people use text
only news readers). As long as you can convey your question in an
easily readable form, and your question is intelligible, you should
get some help.

For more guidelines about posting to sci.math, see Ken Pledger's
post at

<http://groups.google.com/group/sci.math/browse_frm/thread/9d0998153fe92586/f650e0f120a60044>

Rob Johnson <rob(a)trash.whim.org>
take out the trash before replying
to view any ASCII art, display article in a monospaced font
From: Rob Johnson on 17 Jun 2010 11:47
In article <20100617.074043(a)whim.org>,
Rob Johnson <rob(a)trash.whim.org> wrote:
>In article <be492db9-c138-4616-a2b7-60cee7b83ae6(a)b35g2000yqi.googlegroups.com>,
>AK <selfstudier(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>I often want to ask questions on this group from what I'm currently
>>reading (both physical textbooks and online documents) but I'm put off
>>by the amount of math symbols and notation I would have to transfer to
>>this plain text environment just to pose a small question.
>>
>>Would it be okay to refer to previews from google books (although that
>>could be a bit inconsistent, depending on what random page google
>>decides you can't look at), or (preferably) to link small screenshots
>>of a portion of a page containing the context of my question, so I can
>>save myself the time and trouble of transcribing the math, and at the
>>same time make it easier for the person reading the question? (Also I
>>know many people use newsreaders to read newsgroups, but i don't know
>>how those work, so whether there would be any issues there).
>>
>>It seems this group is unmoderated so technically I might do whatever
>>I wanted (and some people on here seem to stretch that liberty to the
>>max), but I know there are quitw a few smart and helpful folks here
>>who make time to help out others, so I don't want to do something to
>>turn them off from answering my questions.
>>
>>Or if anyone has any better ideas, please let me know.
>
>Providing a link to something is always acceptable (whereas attaching
>images, PDFs, etc. to a post is frowned on since some people use text
>only news readers). As long as you can convey your question in an
>easily readable form, and your question is intelligible, you should
>get some help.
>
>For more guidelines about posting to sci.math, see Ken Pledger's
>post at
>
><http://groups.google.com/group/sci.math/browse_frm/thread/9d0998153fe92586/f650e0f120a60044>

If that link doesn't work because of its length, try

<http://groups.google.com/group/sci.math/msg/f650e0f120a60044>

Rob Johnson <rob(a)trash.whim.org>
take out the trash before replying
to view any ASCII art, display article in a monospaced font
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