Since second year of undergrad, I’ve had a mathematical pen name. I won’t disclose it here – let pseudonyms be pseudonyms¹. However, I’ll give you a hint: it’s an animal. You’ll find my questions littered in various mathematical Discord servers. If you know me reasonably well, you can probably figure it out.

I use my mathematical pen name to ask questions, whether ‘stupid’ or ‘intelligent’, whether early or late in the day. To be clear, I always try asking friends first – people with full context on your background can probably provide the best help. But friends aren’t always awake, and sometimes I need multiple turns of explanations. Sometimes I just don’t get it: even after nights of sleep, runs and cups of coffee, the explanation might not make sense².

It’s liberating having a mathematical pen name; it significantly lowers the activation threshold for asking questions. And I suspect most mathematicians err on the side of asking too few questions.

While there are genuinely stupid questions, ‘stupid’ is often short-hand for ‘posed with undue respect to the respondent’. I’ll stress this point: any question posed with respect is, by definition, non-stupid.

There are other ways to lower the question-asking friction. First and foremost, try hanging out with people who like questions. I was lucky to have one-two close friends in each course whom I could rely on for questions³ – and oftentimes, that’s enough.

If you’re taking a course, another solution might be creating a shared Google Doc – a kind of course noticeboard. I did this when taking Functional Analysis II last spring. When working through the script, I found myself getting stuck on details (and typos) too often. I knew for a fact that others were struggling too, so I created a Google Doc graciously titled The Script: A Reader’s Companion, where people could add typos, insights and questions. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of engagement with the doc, and it certainly made summer revision more fun. Very sophisticated problem solving, indeed.

Of course, you could also insist your lecturer create an anonymous forum. In my experience, anonymity is important: having completed all my coursework, I have a decent sample size of course forums, and I find anonymous forums to have more activity. Yet, more organic arrangements, such as WhatsApp groups or course noticeboards, generally work better.

Spaces for asking non-stupid questions are so, so valuable. If you haven’t already, try getting a mathematical pseudonym. I’m an anonymous invertebrate – see you under the sea!