r/askmath rules, stats, and what to post

This is a question and answer community for math. People come here with a mathematical question they are stuck on, and commenters try to help them work through it. The rules make the deal very clear. You bring a question that is genuinely about math, you explain what you have already tried or where exactly you got confused, and you stay in the thread to engage with the people who answer. This is not a place for guides, memes, viral challenge puzzles, or test questions from a live exam. It is also not a place for shortcuts. Asking people to just give the answer, paying someone for answers, or posting exam questions all break the rules. If you are a founder reading this, think of it as a room full of students and math lovers helping each other learn, not a room waiting to hear about your product.

Every rule here decides whether a post survives, but a few decide whether anything marketing-adjacent survives. “Explain your post.” is the gatekeeper, because a bare problem with no context or attempt gets removed. “Stay on topic.” kills anything that is not a math question, including how-to guides, memes, and viral challenge posts, so a content marketing style post dies here. “No cheating” bans exam questions, brain dumps, test answer links, and any solicitation of payment for help or answers, which closes the door on selling tutoring or services. “No AI” bans LLM-generated theories and using LLMs to answer questions, so do not draft your post with a chatbot and paste it in. “No hit and run” requires you to stay in the discussion and forbids deleting your post after receiving help. “No flooding.” limits you to one or two questions per day. “Use the proper flair” matters because flairs are required and help commenters assist you.

If you are a founder or marketer, understand that straight promotion is banned here, so the only path is to participate like a real member. A good post looks like an honest math question from someone genuinely trying to learn. You state the problem clearly, you include a picture if the problem needs one, you pick the right flair, and you explain what you have already attempted or the exact spot where you got stuck. The rules even allow an imgur link for images in comments or chat posts, which is the only kind of link this community blesses. If your product relates to math learning, the respectful move is to answer other people's questions generously, with your own knowledge and your own words, and let your reputation grow. You can post one or two of your own questions per day, and you must stay active in the thread afterward, respond to comments, and thank the people who helped you.

The fastest ways to get removed here are simple. Do not post a problem with no explanation of what you tried, because “Explain your post.” makes that a requirement and the moderators say they remove posts that lack context or attempts. Do not post anything off topic, like how-to guides, memes, viral challenge questions, or guess-the-number style puzzles, because “Stay on topic.” covers all of those. Do not post exam, test, midterm, or certification questions, brain dumps, or links to test answers, because “No cheating” covers all of that. Do not offer to pay anyone for help or answers, which the same rule bans. Do not post LLM-generated theories or use a language model to answer questions, because “No AI” forbids it. Do not flood the subreddit with many posts, since “No flooding.” caps you at one or two questions per day. Do not delete your post after people help you, because “No hit and run” makes that a rule violation and says it removes knowledge future learners need. Do not forget your flair, since “Use the proper flair” is part of the deal and flairs help commenters help you. And do not be rude to the people trying to help you, because “Don't be a jerk.” warns that blatant rudeness may result in a ban.

The “No AI” rule here is the strictest I have seen stated so plainly, and it tells you exactly how this room feels about generated answers, so leave every tool at the door. I also like that “No hit and run” exists, because it says the community sees old questions and answers as a shared library worth protecting. If your product helps people learn math, your best move here is to be a genuinely helpful commenter who shows up again and again, not a poster with a link. That is a slower play, but it is the only one these rules leave open.