Wikipedia:Mathematics Collaboration of the Week

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WP:MATHCOTW

Every week a Mathematics Collaboration of the Week will be picked using this page. This is a specific mathematics-related topic which either has no article or a basic stub page, the aim being to have a featured-standard article by the end of the two weeks, from widespread cooperative editing.

The project aims to fill gaps in Wikipedia, to give users a focus and to give us all something to be proud of. Anyone can nominate an article and can vote for the nominated articles. Every week, the votes are tallied, and the winner will be promoted for a week to potential contributors.

Previous winners can be found at /History.
Removed nominations can be found at /Removed.

Collaborations

Weekly:

Fortnightly:

Monthly:


Contents

Selecting the next Collaboration of the Week

  • Voting
    • Please vote for as many of the following candidates as you like.
    • Only registered users should vote.
    • To enter your votes, simply edit the appropriate sections by just inserting a new line with "# ~~~~". This will add your username and a time stamp in a new numbered list item.
    • A vote will be taken to include a pledge that the voter will contribute to the article if it is selected.
    • Please add only support votes. Opposing votes will not affect the result, as the winner is simply the one with the most support votes (see approval voting).
  • Tie-breakers
    • In case of a tie, voting will be extended for 24 hours. If there is still a tie, the candidate that was nominated first wins.

Nominations

  • Nominations
    • New nominations can be made at any time and should be added at the end of this page. Please use the template at the bottom of this page.
    • If the page you are nominating already exists, please add {{MathCOTW}} to the top of its talk page.
  • Considerations for nominations
    • Please only nominate articles which fit one or more of the following guidelines:
      • The article does not currently exist.
      • The article is 2 paragraphs or less.
      • The article is 1000 characters or less.
      • The article is in poor condition, and likely needs to be rewritten or extensively revised.
    • For non-stubs, submitting the article to pages needing attention, cleanup, peer review, or requests for expansion may be more appropriate.
    • Giving reasons as to why an article should become the COTW may assist others in casting their vote.
    • Can the wider community easily contribute to the article? Or is it something only a small number of people will know about?
  • Pruning
    • The nomination will be moved to /Removed if it has not received sufficient approval after 7-14 days.
  • Voting for your own article
    • You are allowed to vote for articles that you nominate.


The path to a Featured Article
  1. Start a new article
  2. Research and write a great article
  3. Check against the featured article criteria
  4. Get creative feedback (Peer review)
  5. Apply for featured article status
  6. Featured articles

Candidates for next week

  • Add new nominations to the bottom of the page.
  • The next collaboration will be selected on September 25, 2005.

Linear independence

As noted on Talk:Linear independence the previous version, defining linear independence only for sets, lead to some subtle inconsistencies. Currently it defines linear independence only for families.

The formal definition should be cleaned up a little and there should be a section on set versus family, maybe also mentioning multisets. We should also include a definition which only depends on set concepts and doesn't use index notation. Finally the article should not only be correct but also understandable for lay people.

The article actually is next on my todo list, but I will definitely need some help. Markus Schmaus 2 July 2005 23:24 (UTC)

Support
  1. Markus Schmaus
  2. Deryck C. 10:54, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
  3. EagleFalconn 01:44, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Markov chains

Markov chains are crucial in the development of stochastic models. With increasing parallel computer power around, fairly large models are currently studied in a large range of scientific disciplines. The article needs to be a better introduction for newcomers to Markov chains.

From the top of my head, some of the todos:

  • Clearer introduction for the newcomer
  • Motivation for using Markov chains
  • Clean-up, reviewing and clarification of the math
  • Better distinction between continuous and discrete state spaces
  • A clear example of a Markov model
  • Conditions for which a unique eigenvector exists, and how to use the Power method to find limit distributions
  • Scientific applications should be extended; currently the list is not explicative
  • Relation to Hidden Markov models
  • Incorporation of Markov process

Anthony Liekens 23:47, 17 September 2005 (UTC) Jake 06:54, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

Vector

Vector is currently a disambig page. The topic is divided among many pages : Vector space, vector (spatial), vector bundle, vector calculus, dot product, cross product, array, etc... Merging and cleaning up all those topics is a huge amount of work but I really think it would be worth the effort. The amount of applications is enormous, and such a work could benefit a great deal from the help of the applied science community.

Vb 13:51, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

  • Against. While there may be needed cleanup in individual articles, merging would be a mistake. The topic vector bundle is sufficiently advanced that most undergrads will never see it, except possibly math majors. By contrast, plain-old vectors is something that high-school freshmen will get. linas 22:36, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
    • Your argument is correct Linas so let's take vector bundle out of the list. Like that I think it is still a first rank collaboration. Vb 09:56, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Planimeter

Stub-length article on a notable measuring instrument. Badly needs a section on operation (done by someone with a greater understanding of Green's theorem than I), as well as the histories and differences between the three types of planimeters. KingTT 19:46, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

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