Cheating through math help sites.

I just read Gabriel W.'s post on https://brilliant.org/discussions/thread/staff-post-announcement-price-increases-on-points-/

It talks about cheating through math help websites. And if you search google, people have literally copy pasted problems from Brilliant into some forums and have got right answers for that.

I can understand incentives for people to cheat in school, but why would anyone cheat on free websites like brilliant? It is my belief that this is happening due to the prizes on the point exchange. People are these things really that important, or are maths and physics more important?

I vouch for changes or elimination of point exchange or maybe something else you might suggest.

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Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
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`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Actually, I value what I can learn from brilliant more than the prizes. Sadly, not all people think that way...

Laras Hererra - 8 years, 2 months ago

Levelling up may be just one of the few things.But honestly speaking, I myself try to solve the problems without seeking any help as much as possible.

Nishant Sharma - 8 years, 2 months ago

I usually don't comment on forums...but after seeing all such fuss I am really confused about why are you people so concerned about who is cheating and who is not. You are no mentor or even the moderator. Those who solve the problems by themselves will/should be satisfied with their efforts...and those are taking help of unfair means..let them do what they want...at the end of the day they will not learn anything..that's plain and simple... I have been doing the brilliant problems for the past one month or so,but till today.. I haven't even claimed a single prize from the prize section...I find joy in solving the problems and that's it...and about the rise in points exchange section...I believe what the brilliant team has done seemed right to them.Please don't let these things get into your head...just live a simple life and solve the problems...........

Sourangsu Bandyopadhyay - 8 years, 2 months ago

Those who cheat math doesn't love math with their deepest heart...

Taufiq Hakim Rac'madhan - 8 years, 2 months ago

Really ? Sad ... these guys will NEVER be able to learn things ,as for them getting answers from others and leveling up is Purely Time waste ! And Yes , Making wrong use of Amazingly Free Brilliant is very BAD ...

Mihir Sriram Arnala - 8 years, 2 months ago

I agree with you, Mirza B. Right, somewhere else, I have found using Google, and someone (user or not) posted the problem like "homework help".. Avoid Cheating!! or will be the habits!!

Andrias Meisyal - 8 years, 2 months ago

Ya...this happen not only here but on other sites also.This is really bad...Remember guys,the prize won after banging your head against tough problems gives much more happiness than won by wrong ways!!!....Let those guy's cheat...they will never learn something new...

Anshul Jain - 8 years, 2 months ago

i think such users should be blocked from brilliant or the best way is ask a solution to submit after solving of every problem and if u dont then u wont get ur points

Vasanth Balakrishnan - 8 years, 2 months ago

support u

superman son - 8 years, 2 months ago

There is definately no use of cheating If u dont know it u have to figure it out yourself else u wont learn Prizes dont really matter that much.............

Shikha Bhat - 8 years, 2 months ago

I wonder up to which point is it considered cheating some things. For example, is it a cheat to use a calculator in Olympiad--type problems, or to find all solutions to a given problem using a computer program and then finding an appropriate proof? I suppose the answer is yes, given the conditions under which problems are competitively solved, but still...

Sebastian Garrido - 8 years, 2 months ago

Ordinary Scientific Calculator won't really be cheating. You should try not to use calculator but it is ok. Using computers or other advance computation devices is cheating. Though I feel that Brilliant Masters have tried to make most problems in level 4 not solvable by coding, maybe some problems can be solved. But we should avoid computer or internet as much as possible while trying to solve brilliant problems.

Mirza Baig - 8 years, 2 months ago

It is not be cheating if you've found the solution yourself, be it using computer code or anything else. However, it is surely better to find an elegant solution, and that is what one should aim for.

Vitaly Breyev - 8 years, 2 months ago

@Vitaly Breyev – You might say that it is not cheating in conventional sense of word, but certainly it is nearly equivalent to nothing in terms of what brilliant stands for. It was mentioned in the very early stages of this website that coding is not permissible and that this is not a coding platform. Mostly the questions can't even be done by coding, but if there are few, then they don't really make for good programming practice. To me, this seems like no educational benefit.

Mirza Baig - 8 years, 2 months ago

@Mirza Baig – That's absolutely fair, it's just that "cheating" is a pretty strong word.

Vitaly Breyev - 8 years, 2 months ago

Avaricious nature everywhere.. Nobody wants to learn, they just want to satisfy their greed for valueless stuff.

Aditya Parson - 8 years, 2 months ago

I totally agree with the increase of points for the T-Shirt. Actually, I think it could be even higher (even myself being far away to reach that point). That would totally avoid people to cheat: real problem solvers will keep doing this, beceause they are learning; people who cheats will give up soon!

thx Brilliant, for this amazing work!

Gabriel Lisboa - 8 years, 2 months ago

Here's an alternative. https://brilliant.org/discussions/thread/an-alternative/

Pratik Acharya - 8 years, 2 months ago

I actually found it in a website of whom I am a member. Some users have copy pasted these questions under titles like urgent help needed and please help.

Soham Dibyachintan - 8 years, 2 months ago

IF anyone cheat , he/she will miss the pleasure of solving that particular question

Mayank Kaushik - 8 years, 2 months ago

Prizes may not last forever but the knowledge that you gain daily will...

Sayantan Guha - 8 years, 2 months ago

What about people who just want to level up?

Jo ONG - 8 years, 2 months ago

But what's the point? If someone is cheating to level up, then he probably has not mastered his current level. Then it doesn't make sense to be in next level, as its gonna be much harder and you'll again cheat.

Mirza Baig - 8 years, 2 months ago

thus cheating become a habit

Irvi Aini - 8 years, 2 months ago

they became unaware of their actual maths skill

shaheed vh - 8 years, 2 months ago

does searching for similar concepts on Google also considered as cheating?

aashi malhotra - 8 years, 2 months ago

Is it ok to Google definitions of terms that we don't understand?

Nicholas Sim - 8 years, 2 months ago

The only math help thing I use is GeoGebra for Geometry problems. But I never post an answer based solely on GeoGebra unless I can justify it for myself.

Brian Reinhart - 8 years, 2 months ago

Well why do these guys need to get books through points exchange, they can buy these books also.

Soham Dibyachintan - 8 years, 2 months ago

It may just be a harmless joking for brilliant, but for people used to cheat, it's an annoying disrespect. Imagine yourself wandering in an answer site, finding an interesting question by a user in need, solve it in half a day, and then go to brilliant and find out it was posted there. Is it even possible that such cheater actually doesn't notice it himself?

Happened to me once when I was wandering around Yahoo answers http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;ylt=ApKVo2kFL82WXNMEZvAaftvsy6IX;ylv=3?qid=20130325010533AAO2Xoo

Afkar Aulia - 8 years, 2 months ago

they are seriously intruding into my sanctuary, those kids wanting to look cool or something http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;ylt=Aq0H.s5L1NxBtkDcp6Y0d7nFDH1G;ylv=3?qid=20130408083410AAbFz47 everytime, there is always yet another cheater

Afkar Aulia - 8 years, 2 months ago

If I struggle too much with a problem, I have sometimes used Wolframalpha in eagerness to see the sollution, or to get a hint of were to start. Is it considered cheating to use digital aids to find out the answer, and then try to solve it by hand? Example: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x%2By%2Bz%3D1%2C+x%5E2%2By%5E2%2Bz%5E2%3D2%2C+x%5E3%2By%5E3%2Bz%5E3%3D3%2C+x%5E4%2By%5E4%2Bz%5E4%3Dw

I would never submit an 25+6 as an answer here on brilliant based on typing that single line into WA. I feel like there is a gentleman's rule of solving every problem by hand. For the record, I left this problem unanswered

Magne Myhren - 8 years, 2 months ago

those who cheat by knowing answer of question through maths sites are only the ones who suffer from it . Their actual maths skill is not confirmed by it . moreover there after they again cheat since questions come above their knowledge

shaheed vh - 8 years, 2 months ago

I cant believe how hard calculus is I feel lost with out sites like this I would be lost in my work

carolyn merwin - 6 years, 6 months ago

I 'm on my lat few classes in UOP and I'm stuck on this calculus class I can'y seem to figure it out no matter how much I read the books I simply still makes no since to me I tried the online tutor they offer it simply made it even harder to figure out so at my witts end I hope that here I might be able to get a understanding of what I'm to learn.

carolyn merwin - 6 years, 6 months ago

suppose youre given a data set that classifies each sample unit into one of four catigories A,B,C,D,you plan to create a computer database consisting of these data and you plan to code the data A=1 B=2 C=3 and D=4 are the data consisting of the classifications A B C and D qualiative or quantitive

carolyn merwin - 6 years, 6 months ago

Is it considered cheating if I search for more information about the relevant math or physics concept used in a Brilliant problem? For example, I know that I can solve a particular problem through the manipulation of logarithms, but since I don't know enough about them I would search for more information about logarithms and how to operate with them.

Sorry if that was a dumb question. It's just that some Brilliant problems state that "you may read the blog post on (some math or physics topic)", which for me implies that for most occasions, users should not read posts related to the problem. Is that right?

Paolo Miguel Bartolo - 8 years, 2 months ago

I can answer for physics. The physics problems are not old chestnuts or problems seen elsewhere. We spend quite a bit of time coming up with new stuff and so it's unlikely in your searches you'd find 'the answer' to a problem. Hence if there is a concept or technique you are unfamiliar with I encourage you to do the necessary reading to discover how to do a problem. In fact, I would hope the Brilliant problems inspire you to do exactly that.

David Mattingly Staff - 8 years, 2 months ago

u are right . But just elimination of pts. exchange won't help. brilliant should conduct written tests with a short time limit within regular intervals for all users to certify their worthiness for the level they are in. searching the net for ans. won't help for everything.searching for information on the question asked is a better idea. also using a scientific calculator for solving problems of level 3 and up in both physics and maths cannot be called cheating as the problems posted on brilliant are quite tough.....

Dishant Shah - 8 years, 2 months ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$