Editing Incubator escapee wiki:WikiProject Mathematics

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This project aims to enable [[Wikipedian]]s to cooperate, make suggestions and share ideas on the organization and improvement of the [[mathematics]] coverage of Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to join in this endeavor. 

Many such suggestions and guidelines have been developed since the project began. A particularly useful collection can be found in the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Mathematics]], which contains a detailed discussion of issues related to writing mathematics articles on Wikipedia.

However, it is important for all of us to remember that these are only suggestions: they should help to give us focus, and inspire our contributions, but no one should feel obliged to follow (or even read) them. This WikiProject is ''not'' prescriptive. The suggestions are intended to be helpful for those who are not sure what to write, or how they can contribute, but they should not distract anyone wanting to contribute from our main purpose: to write and improve mathematics articles!

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==Project background and scope==
This [[Wikipedia:WikiProject|WikiProject]] began in 2002 to assist the creation, improvement and organization of articles in the area of [[mathematics]]. The initial goals of the project were to provide:
* a standard "bare bones" format for mathematical articles
* useful links for article writers
* a location to discuss issues relating to this section of Wikipedia
* standards for mathematical notation using wikified HTML and [[TeX]].

In its broadest terms, ''mathematics'' includes its overlaps with [[physics]], [[computer science]], [[operations research]], and other areas. However, there are now separate WikiProjects in many of these areas, and so the focus of WikiProject Mathematics has shifted towards articles which are primarily mathematical (although it still includes many aspects of [[theoretical physics]], for example).

Much progress has been made. The overall organisation of the project is now pretty much in place, and a "house style" for mathematical articles is reasonably well established. The [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/List of mathematics articles (0–9)|indices of mathematics articles]] now has [[WP:WikiProject Mathematics/Count|over 30000 entries]], and this list is automatically updated by a [[User:Mathbot|bot]] using the [[list of mathematics categories]] to identify relevant articles. There are also [[Lists of mathematics topics|lists of articles by topic]] which organize articles by subdiscipline and other criteria.

When contributing new articles which are (even only remotely) related to mathematics (including biographies of mathematicians, and so on), please add at least an approximate mathematical [[Help:Category|category]]. This enables us to identify, and hence review and add to (or mercilessly savage!), each other's contributions.

The main issues for the project are now probably the following ones:
* ''Bringing stubs up to a reasonable standard.'' There are always plenty of pages that are definition-only. We need to add motivation and examples.
* ''Developing important articles into good expositions.'' As anyone who teaches the subject knows, the gap between stating some true facts, and really putting over a topic, is quite large. Here we can consider also the need to add history and proper attributions.
* ''Expanding coverage to bring the subject up-to-date.'' This is a huge task, so the main requirements are patience and determination. In particular, a lot of work is still needed to bring the more advanced material up-to-date, so expert contributions are to be encouraged.
* ''Keeping track of all relevant articles, by listing, categorising, and assessing them''. As mentioned above, it is important to add even an approximate category to each mathematical article. There is also a [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Wikipedia 1.0|subproject]] whose aim is to assess the broad field, and the importance and quality of our articles. Anyone can contribute to this task by adding or updating {{tl|maths rating}} templates on article talk pages.
* ''Identifying pseudo-mathematics, hoaxing, and other unattributable material.'' Most Wikipedians, naturally enough, don't feel qualified to pronounce on articles purporting to be mathematical, so it is up to us to identify crankery, hoaxes, and material with dubious or unverifiable sources. Anything suspect should be reported on the talk page of this page.

==Things to do==
Looking for something to do? The following table lists some of the places on Wikipedia where mathematics-related requests, suggestions, and tasks have been collected together.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! What
! Where
|-
| Catch up on the latest conversations || [[Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mathematics]]
|-
| Expand a mathematics "stub" || [[:Category:Mathematics stubs]]
|-
| Apply your expert knowledge to improve an article|| [[:Category:Mathematics articles needing expert attention]]
|-
| Request a new mathematics article or write a requested article || [[Wikipedia:Requested articles/Mathematics]], [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Mathematics]], [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/missing mathematicians]]
|-
| Edit a mathematics article needing attention || [https://bambots.brucemyers.com/cwb/bycat/Mathematics.html Bot cleanup listing] - goes live Mar 1, 2022. Also available from [https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=21514655 PetScan cleanup intersection query]. ([[m:PetScan|manual]])
|-
| Flag a mathematics article needing attention || Edit the article itself and add a problem tag template. See [[Wikipedia:Template index/Cleanup]] for a list of tags.
|-
| Suggest or edit a redirect which could have its own article || [[:Category:Redirect-Class mathematics articles]]
|-
| Add or improve references in a mathematics article
| [https://bambots.brucemyers.com/cwb/bycat/Mathematics.html#References Bot cleanup listing for reference problems] - goes live Mar 1, 2022. Also available from [https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=21514673 PetScan] ([[m:PetScan|manual]])
|-
| Turn a "red link" blue || [[User:Mathbot/List of mathematical redlinks]]
|-
| Maintain the mathematics portal || [[Portal:Mathematics]]
|-
| Review or respond to recent activity on mathematics articles || [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Article alerts]] and for new articles: [[User:AlexNewArtBot/MathSearchResult]]
|-
| Help to resolve a dispute || [[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Maths, science, and technology]]
|-
| Ask or answer a question about mathematics || [[Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics]]
|-
| Assess an article's importance and quality || [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics#Assessment of mathematics articles]]
|-
| Articles up for deletion || [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Mathematics]]
|-
| Work on drafts || [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/List of math draft pages]]
|}

==Some issues to think about==
Probably the hardest part of writing a mathematical article (actually, ''any'' article) is the difficulty of addressing the level of mathematical knowledge on the part of the reader. For example, when writing about a [[field (algebra)|field]], do we assume that the reader already knows [[group (mathematics)|group theory]]? A general approach is to start simple, then move toward more abstract and general statements as the article proceeds. The suggestions below are intended to help us achieve this.

When describing a concept in terms of some other concept (for example, explaining [[rational number]]s in terms of [[integer]]s), be sure to:

* add a (prominent) link to the relevant article (in this case, [[integer]]) — as with other Wikipedia articles, avoid duplicate links;
* if it makes sense, add a very quick (and naive) explanation/description (in this case, "positive or negative whole numbers" might work).

If the relevant article has not been written yet, then create a [[Wikipedia:the perfect stub article|good stub]], and add a mathematical category. This will list the article in several places (for instance on the [[list of mathematics articles]]) and there is a reasonable chance that someone will expand on it.

Some terminology varies from author to author in the literature. It is therefore a good idea to check any pre-existing articles related to a topic to see if there is already an established usage. Proposals for changes in usage are always welcome: the talk page of this page is one forum where issues such as this can be raised.

New contributors may find it helpful to spend a bit of time perusing some of the existing content; this should provide some idea of what type of information is already available, and how much detail is appropriate in a Wikipedia mathematics article.

The project [[Wikipedia:WikiProject General Audience]], whose goal is to help make articles [[Wikipedia:Make technical articles accessible|more accessible]], is also worth consulting.

[[Wikipedia:Scientific citation guidelines]] provides guidance for writing readable and well-referenced scientific and mathematical articles.

==Conventions==
The following pages attempt to describe certain conventions for articles with mathematical content. Please read, comment on, improve, criticize, and if appropriate, follow these standards.

* [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics)]], including [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics)#Mathematical conventions|Mathematical conventions]] (a working list of terminology and notational conventions)
* [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (theorems)]]
* [[Wikipedia:Algorithms on Wikipedia]] (proposed)
* [[Wikipedia:Scientific citation guidelines]]

Also see:

* [[List of mathematical symbols‎]]
* [[List of mathematical symbols‎ by subject]]

===Classification===
There is no one single, prescribed method for classifying mathematics articles. Both the lists and the categories have grown organically, rather than being imported. See also [[areas of mathematics]].

==Noteworthy publications in mathematics==
While we generally focus on ideas rather than the packages they're delivered in, sometimes publications are worthy of covering in their own right. For example, we have written about textbooks and monographs that meet [[WP:NBOOK|Wikipedia's article-worthiness standard for books]], and there's plenty more to do in that regard.
* [[List of mathematics journals]]
* [[:Category:Mathematics textbooks]]
* [[:Category:Series of mathematics books]]

==Assessment of mathematics articles==
{{Main|Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Assessment}}
<div style="float:right";>{{User:WP 1.0 bot/Tables/Project/Mathematics}}</div>
The subproject [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Wikipedia 1.0]] provides a system to assess mathematics articles for their quality and importance, and to classify them broadly by field. This system was originally developed as part of [[WP:1.0|Wikipedia 1.0]], and these assessments will be used to help us to determine which articles will appear in the Wikipedia 1.0 CD. 

However, article assessments are useful more generally to track the project's progress, identify weak spots in its coverage, and highlight articles which could become [[WP:GA|Good Articles]] or [[WP:FA|Featured Articles]]. Articles are assessed by placing (or updating) a {{tl|maths rating}} template on the talk page of the article. Furthermore, the template provides an opportunity to add a brief comment on the article suggesting improvements that could be made.

The table above summarizes the current state-of-play. The links in this table point to assessment pages on which articles are listed by field and quality, complete with any comments that editors have made.

''Any'' article can be assessed for its mathematical content, and ''anyone'' can rate an article. The only exceptions are the [[WP:GA|Good Article]] and [[WP:FA|Featured Article]] quality grades. These should only be added to articles which have been through the standard Wikipedia [[WP:GAN|Good Article Nomination]] and [[WP:FAC|Featured Article Candidacy]] procedures. <!-- Editors are also encouraged to use the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/A-class rating|A-class assessment process]] to assign A-class quality to an article. -->

==Recognized content==
See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Recognized content]] for an up-to-date list of recognized content in the project.

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 100%"
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| [[File:Wikidata-logo.svg|50px]] Visit the [[:d:Wikidata:WikiProject Mathematics|WikiProject Mathematics]] on Wikidata [[File:Wikidata-logo.svg|50px]]
|}

==Userboxes==
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==Barnstars==
{{tlx|The Mathematics Barnstar|put your message here <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>}} — An award placed at another user’s talk page to recognize them for making significant contributions to Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to mathematics, or to WikiProject Mathematics itself. 
{{The Mathematics Barnstar}}
<big>Or</big><br>
{{tlx|The Mathematics Barnstar|put your message here <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>|alt}}
{{The Mathematics Barnstar|put your message here <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>|alt}}

[[Category:WikiProject Mathematics| ]]
[[Category:WikiProjects participating in Wikipedia 1.0 assessments|Mathematics]]
[[Category:Active WikiProjects|Mathematics]]
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