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5:49 PM
@Gilles Do you have an opinion in this matter? A tie-break would be useful. Too bad we can't just push posts to the review queues...
 
@Raphael link?
 
2
Q: What is the asymptotic runtime of this nested loop?

Shravan40I am trying to analyse the runtime of this algorithm: for(i=1; i < n; i++){ for(j=1; j <= i; j++){ statement1; } } Expanding the above loop into. First : for(j=1; j <= 1; j++){ statement1; //complexity O(1) } Second: for(j=1; j <=2 ; j++){ ...

(I edited after Patrick closed it.)
 
6:09 PM
@Raphael hmm. We're both conflicted since we answered that question that Patrick closed as a duplicate.
But I agree with you that it isn't a duplicate. It's related, sure.
Your question is very general and abstract. The second one is about a concrete case.
It's easy to apply the more general one when you have years of experience behind your belt, but not when you're in the target audience of such questions
 
Hello.
How do we calculate the (-1/2)mod23 ?
Where mod means modulus division
 
@Sohaib What do you mean? Calculate -1/2 in Z/23Z?
write down the definition of mod, it gives you an equation
 
Didnt get you
I mean to say like 24 mod 23 = 1
 
and take care that dividing by 2 in Z/23Z is not the same thing as dividing by 2 in R
 
@Gilles would the answer be 11?
 
6:17 PM
@Sohaib yes
 
@Gilles I do not understand how the answer came out to be that :(
Got it. Thanks.
 
vzn
mods, re reviewing a post with reopen votes. can you clarify how reopen votes work? does a post go in a review queue with a single reopen vote or what? & then that vote disappears after reviewed, or what? hard to follow
reopening seems extremely rare around here. am maybe gonna stop even clicking that button
 
@vzn it always takes 5 votes to reopen. A post goes into the reopen review queue if it has a reopen vote or if it has been edited within 5 days after closing.
I don't know offhand how many “leave closed” votes it takes to push a post off the reopen queue
Also, if a post has at least 100 views then close and reopen votes expire after 4 days
 
vzn
it seems like after somebody reviews it [& chooses "leave closed"], the indication on the post that it has reopen votes disappears.
anyway it seems waste of time/near futile to register reopen votes. seems virtually never succeed.
 
6:33 PM
@vzn somebody choosing “leave closed” has no impact on reopen votes. The only things that can remove a reopen vote are the question being reopened, or the vote expiring.
Enough “leave closed” votes bring the post out of the queue, however
 
vzn
reopen mechanisms seem very funky/twisty. figure reopens are rather rare se-wide.
 
@vzn reopens are rare SE-wide (I know this because reopens are rare on SO and the majority of SE posts are on SO), but that's easily explained because SO has a lot of crap that unambiguously needs closing
 
vzn
←think its time to give up on that "reopen" sham & will advise others likewise
 
@vzn please, attend statistics 101
 
vzn
its confusing & opaque
another user was complaining about it in chat
leading to long discussion... no resolution...
told him early on to forget about it, he didnt want to
←did attend stat101
you win.
 
7:31 PM
@Gilles Huh. I think we are right, but we certainly are conflicted. Plus, I would not like overruling them with 2 to 4. Is it worth a Meta post? I think the answers have value, event though the question is not great. If it is to remain closed as duplicate, we should at least pick a "runtime of nested loops" question as target (and maybe migrate our answers there; that might work better for mine than for yours).
 
@Raphael since we haven't come to a consensus, meta is the correct next step
 
@Gilles Okay, I'll have at it.
 
I'd mind if our answers were getting deleted, but since the question is closed as duplicate, it's staying around, so I'll support you but not expend a lot more energy on this one
 
Understood.
 
7:45 PM
0
Q: Has this question been closed for the wrong reasons?

RaphaelA question¹ that has been around for some time was recently closed as duplicate² by moderator overrule. I don't agree with this closure for three reasons: It's not a duplicate of the question provided²: it asks for the analysis of a nested loop, not about particularities of Landau notation. Th...

Another order of business: I have become annoyed at some more established, high-rep users that seem to knowingly act against established policy. In particular, they keep answering dump questions and don't participate in community moderation (regularly), be it editing or voting (in some instances they commented that the question was bad, but did not vote).
Can and should we do something about that?
 
@Raphael involvement in moderation is not required to participate here
We do, however, need more people involved in moderation before we can graduate
When you see people commenting that a question is bad but not voting to close, do berate them
Answering dump questions is a tricky one: there's a lot of disagreement as to what constitutes an unanswerable dump vs a reasonable-but-poorly-researched question
 
@Gilles True. It's just a data point for me that their motivations seem to not align with what the community needs.
@Gilles I try to do that, maybe I have to be more vigilant?
@Gilles If it were a point if issue, I'd expect a) more traffic in the reopen queue and b) meta discussions about the policy, or at least individual cases.
 
My main annoyance is hints posted as answers
 
I see neither, so either they honestly don't care and just answer anything they can (for reasons that may or may not be altruistic) or they try to circumvent/subvert policy.
 
My finger often itches on the delete button. Technically, they are partial answers, so I just downvote. But the resulting thread often just has the question and Yuval's “answer”, so many of our questions are in fact not properly answered
 
8:01 PM
@Gilles That often coincides, yes. Well, on dump questions. In principle, I think hint answers can be good if the hint enables readers to find the rest of the solution (themselves or by searching with new buzzwords).
@Gilles To be fair, many of the hints do solve the OPs problem. Many of these questions get closed and eventually deleted (?) so negative impact on the backlog should be minimal.
I could understand that; comments would be more appropriate, still.
 
8:26 PM
Oh good, them trolls found the meta question first. :D
 
 
2 hours later…
vzn
10:40 PM
@Realz
interested to hear more about your game sometime
inspired by you/MdB & a recent meta question on tcs.se
2
Q: Is it appropriate to ask the complexity of a algorithm of a fun game at cstheory?

J.A.FI am new here. I have no idea is it appropriate to ask the complexity related question of a algorithm of a fun game at cs theory? So I'd like to find out whether or not it is appropriate first. My question: 2048 is a very hot game on the Internet(http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/). We ra...

there is some serious academic study of complexity of video games, board games, etc. ... you can also try Computer Science which has a more liberal policy — vzn 7 hours ago
 
Oh shit, it's April 1st....
Unicoins?!
I'm afraid to click anything XD
 

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