What to do with false answers

One of the things I like is the possibility (when I get something wrong, or just because I want to know how other did it) to look up the answers. Now there are some solutions which contain errors, some are mild, some are fatal. Most of the time the error gets picked up in a comment.

What I find disturbing is that some solutions which are false (and may or not may have been found so) get a lot of upvotes. In some cases this even makes it impossible for the few correct solutions to be upvoted (because only the 3 solutions with the most votes are displayed by default and most people don't read past that). It seems most people don't read also the comments to check if the solutions was correct or not.

A fragrant example of this is the "Donut Problem!" where literally all the solutions are wrong or incomplete (because the problem is actually really hard).

Bottom line: is there a way to mark false solutions as such so that, at least, the people take the time to look into the comments... I don't mind reading other peoples mistakes, it's also a nice way to learn. But learning that a mistake is correct, is not really productive.

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example link

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    # I indented these lines
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    # up as a code block.

    print "hello world"

# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"

Math

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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}

Easy Math Editor

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Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

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}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

I think the best you can do right now is to leave a comment under the faulty solution. Also remember to click the report button and submit a report if the given answer is wrong as well.

Agnishom Chattopadhyay - 2 years, 10 months ago

Thanks! But what is the degree of "falseness" required before I hit the report button?

Take the (Donut Problem)[https://brilliant.org/problems/donut-problem/] as an example. Some solutions are wrong (they confuse two very distinct objects with distinct properties: the round torus and the flat torus). Other solutions are just incomplete.

In other problems there is just a gap in the proof. Should I just comment and report if the gap is not closed after, say, a week?

Antoine G - 2 years, 10 months ago

@Eli Ross could you please answer this question?

@Agnishom Chattopadhyay – Just to avoid confusion: I don't mind pushing the report button, but if it's done too often, it's not productive anymore (It would just clump the report system)

@Antoine G – Thanks Antoine, I understand your concern. The report button is usually meant to be for cases when the answer of the problem itself is wrong. If some solution is wrong, then it's often a better idea to just comment under their solution.

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}`	$\boxed{123}$