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  1. How do you solve this equation $ \log_{2}(x) = \sqrt x$?
  2. How would you prove $\log_{2}x < \sqrt x$ for $x > 16$?

I understand these are duplicate questions in essence. However, I got really cool/through answers on both of them and solid discussions in the comments and all, which y'all can check.

Furthermore, on the Q.1 that's now closed here I still have to ask clarifying questions to the checked mark answerer. People are now voting to the delete the question.

FEATURE REQUEST: Instead of such aggressive downvoting and voting to close/delete, why can't we have a feature on MSE that merges similar questions that both have good discussions and answers popping up in real time. Closing/deleting one of them would be a disservice.

Merge the comments and answers in a way that makes the most sense. Cuz just being a stickler on the rules currently in place as most people are behaving right now isn't the most ideal solution here clearly and can further hinder other lively discussions such as the ones occurring on both questions (a reproducible problem)

Thank you.

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    $\begingroup$ Merging is a specific action, and it invariably happens because someone didn't do the work to find the other version of the question, which is absolutely justification for downvotes. I don't know why you're mentioning "hinder other lively discussions" as a bad thing, those are not what Stack Exchange is for. $\endgroup$
    – Nij
    Commented Jun 26 at 7:13
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    $\begingroup$ Some info on merging can be found in the corresponding tag-info. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jun 26 at 7:52
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    $\begingroup$ @Nij then what is MSE for then? And could someone explain why both questions are being downvoted so aggressively and even getting deleted? The 1st one got deleted and the 2nd one got downvoted to -5? I'm not really understanding what I did so bad that I got -5 downvotes? Was it juts because of duplicate question, or was my question really that bad? $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 14:14
  • $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak So does my thing qualify for merging? I also want to add one more point that zkutch's answer from question 1 made more sense to me after I read heropup's answer in Q.2 since he explained how to show the derivative was negative for all valid x's < (the minimum) and positive for all valid x's > (the minimum). I also asked zkutch some followup questions last night for his answer on Q.1. Now I'm not sure how to since his answer got deleted. $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 14:25
  • $\begingroup$ @Gary Kindly could you explain why my question was deleted? $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 14:30
  • $\begingroup$ @SarveshRavichandranIyer Kindly could you explain why my question was deleted? $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 14:31
  • $\begingroup$ @Ѕᴀᴀᴅ Kindly could you explain why my question was deleted? $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 14:31
  • $\begingroup$ Context has not been provided even after the closure. I do not see a problem in losing those answers in spite of their vote share. The question doesn't seem to be a duplicate, I'll give you that. MSE is set up in a way that comments are ephemeral and discussions are cut down on, precisely because they can drag away from the focus of the post, namely the question-answer pair. Your question currently has two undelete votes, so it could get undeleted and you can make your edits. $\endgroup$
    – Sarvesh Ravichandran Iyer
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:01
  • $\begingroup$ You didn't do anything wrong from a question writing point of view for the second question : I've voted it up, it's a good question (at a stretch, a duplicate, but arguably not). It seems that it was voted down for being a duplicate of the first question (the one that I deleted). That question is now gone, so your question should get some positive votes because it's attracting meta attention here. $\endgroup$
    – Sarvesh Ravichandran Iyer
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:03
  • $\begingroup$ @SarveshRavichandranIyer for Q.1 I was still asking clarifying questions to the checked marked answerer, but now I can't even access that since that was locked. Doesn't seem fair honestly. I even mentioned it in this post but it was still deleted. The context is simply for solving logx < sqrt(x), which I agree was my fault in not putting them in 1 question (was on a roadtrip and lack of wifi was messing me up). But then again because the answers to the both questions were of high quality (multiple approaches that gives good insight) I feel there should be a way to merge these questions. $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:05
  • $\begingroup$ @SarveshRavichandranIyer As for comments being ephemeral and discussions cut down, I don't personally feel that's right since when someone gives an answer, often times it's necessary to ask clarifying questions to the author. Reasons include, not limited to, them not fully explaining certain parts in their argument (like the zkutch's and heropup's example I mentioned to Martin here), or the solution logically making sense but not seeing how they thought of conjuring up the solutions (like Angelo's answer in Q.2) $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:11
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    $\begingroup$ @SarveshRavichandranIyer I'll also say this whole deleting and arguing has really wasted a lot of time for an undergrad student like myself. It really shouldn't be this aggressive, toxic, and exhausting for anyone, especially just for a simple mistake of a "duplicate question". $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:17
  • $\begingroup$ @SarveshRavichandranIyer Anyway at this point all I'd want is for the Q.1 to be if not undeleted but for the comments and answers to be unlocked so I can paste them into Q.2 (giving due credit of course to the authors) and in that question thread ask my clarifying questions to zkutch. Kindly can you do at least this much? $\endgroup$
    – Bob Marley
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:19
  • $\begingroup$ @BobMarley I'll undelete your first question. Please ensure to copy all the answers with credit to your second (much better) question. Once that is done you can inform me, the first question will be deleted in due course and I'll flag to remove unnecessary comments. (Note : I could respond to your discussions, but at this point I'd much rather we act first and discuss later). $\endgroup$
    – Sarvesh Ravichandran Iyer
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:24
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    $\begingroup$ One more thing : you can use Approach0.xyz to search for mathematical expressions on this website : this will help you cut down on typing out duplicate questions, and make use of this site as a repository of high quality questions. $\endgroup$
    – Sarvesh Ravichandran Iyer
    Commented Jun 26 at 16:28

1 Answer 1

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It is possible to merge questions. Only moderators can do this. (And we do, a lot). But merging questions is irreversible, even by moderators.

A merge effectively combines two questions into one. All answers, comments, etc. are transferred from one question to another. Answers and comments aren't reworked or rewritten, so if there is even a slight difference between the two questions, the answers and comments merged over from the other question can seem weird or even wrong.

Sometimes it's worth the effort to merge and then edit the details of some of the answers. I know that I've done this before, but it's been a while.

If you think two questions should be merged, then you should raise a custom flag on one of the questions, link to the second, and explain what you think should happen and why.

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    $\begingroup$ Is it really true that merging is done a lot nowadays? In my experience it was rarely done since it often it requires too much effort (matching up notation, context, etc). I can't even remember the last time I saw a merge. $\endgroup$
    – Bill Dubuque
    Commented Jun 27 at 20:57
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    $\begingroup$ @BillDubuque One can find a list or the numbers od merged questions from SEDE. (This does not included the deleted questions.) Merging is sometimes discussed in chat. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jun 27 at 23:49
  • $\begingroup$ @Martin Thanks for the links. So merges are indeed still very rare - just as they were back when I was a mod. The count graph seems to have higher numbers than the list, e.g. see the big spikes in the counts (maybe the queries are counting / listing different objects - I didn't have time to investigate). $\endgroup$
    – Bill Dubuque
    Commented Jun 28 at 0:13
  • $\begingroup$ @BillDubuque You can change the dates passed as parameters to the fist query. I included the link listing the merges since 2020, but you can use the same query with a different start date (or end date). Here is an analogous query without any restrictions on the date. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jun 28 at 0:20
  • $\begingroup$ Why are merges so rare? Is it because the requests for merges are so few (i.e. very few people know about merging as a possibility) or because most merge requests get rejected? $\endgroup$
    – Sarvesh Ravichandran Iyer
    Commented Jun 28 at 2:04
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    $\begingroup$ We don't get very many merge requests. But there are many reasons why the default is to not merge. Questions don't match up perfectly (and here, different notation is a common pain). Or different questions have almost identical answers --- why merge? The current trend on the site is for various users to quickly close or mark as duplicate this type of question. $\endgroup$
    – davidlowryduda Mod
    Commented Jun 28 at 15:33
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    $\begingroup$ A deeper problem is that in order to merge, one must be aware of both the new and old question. It's just as hard for established users to search as new users. If a new user does the work and searches enough, they probably don't need to ask another question. If a new user doesn't do the work to search, then they often don't do the work to write a good question. This isn't always true, of course. Searching for math is very hard, especially when not all terms involved are understood fully. $\endgroup$
    – davidlowryduda Mod
    Commented Jun 28 at 15:33
  • $\begingroup$ @davidlowryduda Thanks for the response. $\endgroup$
    – Sarvesh Ravichandran Iyer
    Commented Jun 29 at 3:05

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