Timeline for How to substantiate the claim that something is not known?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 27, 2015 at 0:58 | comment | added | Steve Heim | @emory, oh sure that seems like the same thing. The one I placed is simply what I've encountered most often and is I think a quite standard way of writing it, but yes, any other way of writing the same thing should be fine. Small note: in your first comment, "[...], some other necessary or sufficient conditions are currently known." means that there ARE known conditions. Which is what confused me : ). | |
| May 26, 2015 at 20:37 | comment | added | emory | @lifesayko no, I feel your construction is too verbose. I prefer "We do not know of any other necessary or sufficient conditions." If you do not think they mean the same thing, then who or what is the subject of "no other necessary or sufficient conditions are currently known" | |
| May 26, 2015 at 13:00 | comment | added | Steve Heim | @emory If I understand correctly, you want to state that something is known? The best would be to have a citation in that case. I have seen "It is well known that [...]" but personally I don't like this very much. It leaves readers who encounter this for the first time lost, without references. Imho, if it is really well-known enough that no citation is needed, then it shouldn't be necessary to point out that it is well known. Otherwise, put in a citation, even a textbook. | |
| May 23, 2015 at 22:22 | comment | added | emory | when would it be appropriate to write: "to the best of our knowledge, some other necessary or sufficient conditions are currently known."? can we reduce the word count? | |
| May 21, 2015 at 17:56 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | I agree fully with this. I am -- like the commenter directly above me -- a professional number theorist and write lines like the highlighted one in my papers rather often. If it works for me, it should be appropriate for a master's thesis as well. (I might take out the word "currently": what else could you mean: that you have a proof that it is impossible to know? If so, say so!) | |
| May 21, 2015 at 17:15 | comment | added | Kimball | It's not uncommon in Number Theory either. | |
| May 21, 2015 at 10:13 | vote | accept | A.P. | ||
| May 21, 2015 at 10:03 | comment | added | CrepusculeWithNellie | In addition to not making absolute claims, it is also helpful when you can cite a recent survey or tutorial paper where it is mentioned as open problem. | |
| May 21, 2015 at 9:58 | review | First posts | |||
| May 21, 2015 at 10:04 | |||||
| May 21, 2015 at 9:58 | comment | added | Stephan Kolassa | +1. You'll be surprised at how often reviewers (who, after all, should be experts in the field) do know such things and point you to sources you and your advisor never found. If you were too certain in your formulations, this can be rather humiliating. | |
| May 21, 2015 at 9:56 | history | edited | Stephan Kolassa | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 21, 2015 at 9:55 | history | answered | Steve Heim | CC BY-SA 3.0 |