# Math.SE Comment Templates

Here’s a list of common comments for Math.SE newbies.

I’ve posted them on WordPress.com, but I often got typos after updating that page.Without version control, it’s hard to find out the cause of such error.

### Questions lacking context

[Welcome to Math.SE!](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/11168/290189)
others there for information on writing a good question for this site. In
particular, people will be more willing to help if you  your question
to include some motivation, and an explanation of your own attempts.

### Questions not written in MathJax

[Welcome to Math.SE!](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/4928/290189) Please
use MathJax.  For some basic information about writing math at this site see
e.g. [basic help on mathjax notation](/help/notation),
[mathjax tutorial and quick reference](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5020/290189),
[main meta site math tutorial](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/70559/290189) and
[equation editing how-to](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1773/290189).

### Newbies’ pic-question

To avoid excedding the upper limit of 500 characters, I’ve copied and pasted several comments and combined them into one.

[Welcome to Math.SE!](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/4928/290189)
[mathjax tutorial and quick reference](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5020/290189).
[don't use pictures for critical portions](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/20529/290189)
of your post. Pictures may not be legible, cannot be searched and are not
[this post](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/9960/290189) for information on writing
a good question. People will be more willing to help if you  your
question to include an explanation of your own attempts.

### Image posts

Please do
[not use pictures for critical portions](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/20529/290189)
of your post. Pictures may not be legible, cannot be searched and are not
view-able to some, such as those who use screen readers.

### Displaystyle in question title

I have changed the formatting of the title so as to
[make it take up less vertical space](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/9686/290189)
-- this is a policy to ensure that the scarce space on the main page is
distributed evenly over the questions.  See
Please take this into consideration for future questions. Thanks in advance.

### One question per post

Please, post only
[one question in one post](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/7132/290189).
Posting several questions in the same post is discouraged and such questions
may be put on hold, see [meta](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/6464/290189).

### Fractions in indices and exponents

Please [don't use \frac in exponents or limits of integrals](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/5057/290189).

### Notify question writer for a $\LaTeX$ edit

[Welcome to Math.SE!](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/8588/290189) I have
[$\rm \LaTeX$](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5020/290189). It is possible
proofread the question to ensure this has not happened.

### Wrong tags

Some commonly misused tags.

#### Probability Theory

[Probability theory](//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability_theory) is
of stochastics.  The tag ([tag:probability-theory]) should be used for
questions concerning this subject, not for questions about calculating a
[meta](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1686/290189).

#### Functional Analysis

The tag ([tag:functional-analysis]) is
[intended for questions about infinite dimensional vector spaces](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/8587/290189),
there is a separate tag for ([tag:functional-equations]); see the
[tag-wiki](https://math.stackexchange.com/tags/functional-analysis/info) and
the tag-excerpt. (The tag-excerpt is also shown when you are adding a tag to
a question.)

#### Algebraic Geometry

The tag ([tag:algebraic-geometry]) is
[intended for questions in a branch of mathematics called algebraic geometry](//math.meta.stackexchange.com/a/8587/290189)
(see the [tag-wiki](https://math.stackexchange.com/tags/algebraic-geometry/info).)
The tags ([tag:algebra-precalculus]) and/or ([tag:geometry]) should be used
for basic problems that involve both algebra and geometry.