Editing Encyclopedia:WikiProject Mathematics (section)

==Some issues to think about==
Probably the hardest part of writing a mathematical article (actually, ''any'' article) is the difficulty of addressing the level of mathematical knowledge on the part of the reader. For example, when writing about a [[field (algebra)|field]], do we assume that the reader already knows [[group (mathematics)|group theory]]? A general approach is to start simple, then move toward more abstract and general statements as the article proceeds. The suggestions below are intended to help us achieve this.

When describing a concept in terms of some other concept (for example, explaining [[rational number]]s in terms of [[integer]]s), be sure to:

* add a (prominent) link to the relevant article (in this case, [[integer]]) — as with other Wikipedia articles, avoid duplicate links;
* if it makes sense, add a very quick (and naive) explanation/description (in this case, "positive or negative whole numbers" might work).

If the relevant article has not been written yet, then create a [[Wikipedia:the perfect stub article|good stub]], and add a mathematical category. This will list the article in several places (for instance on the [[list of mathematics articles]]) and there is a reasonable chance that someone will expand on it.

Some terminology varies from author to author in the literature. It is therefore a good idea to check any pre-existing articles related to a topic to see if there is already an established usage. Proposals for changes in usage are always welcome: the talk page of this page is one forum where issues such as this can be raised.

New contributors may find it helpful to spend a bit of time perusing some of the existing content; this should provide some idea of what type of information is already available, and how much detail is appropriate in a Wikipedia mathematics article.

The project [[Wikipedia:WikiProject General Audience]], whose goal is to help make articles [[Wikipedia:Make technical articles accessible|more accessible]], is also worth consulting.

[[Wikipedia:Scientific citation guidelines]] provides guidance for writing readable and well-referenced scientific and mathematical articles.