Ask Dr. Math: Agreements

Frequently Asked Questions

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Clarifications and Instructions


  1. What is the address requested?
    The address requested ("... having an address of ...") is to be completed with a postal address.

  2. What is "contributed material"?
    The "contributed material" can be identified as graphics, text, FAQs, or whatever else is appropriate for Ask Dr. Math mentoring and question-answering.

  3. What is the "consideration"?
    The "consideration" is the motive that induces people to enter into a contract. It is not necessarily money, but can be something like one party letting the other continue to work on a project, and the other doing so. It is a legal term. Contracts without some type of consideration are void.

  4. Where should I sign my name?
    There are two signature lines: one for mathforum.org (to be signed by an officer of the company) and another below that line, to be signed by the Contributor.

Responses to IP issues/concerns.


  1. How will revenues be used?
    Volunteers may be uneasy contributing if they think someone is making money as a result of their contributions. The Math Forum, however, must pay staff to develop Dr. Math, Teacher2Teacher, and other services that are offered to the public free of cost. The question is, how will we continue to pay for the infrastructure and personnel to keep the service going and growing?

    The government is through paying for now. The goal is to keep the services free, but to find ways to generate money to grow them. That's a tall order. We are trying to find sponsors, and are working on developing other products and services that will generate the needed money. Thus any revenue is for the sake of continuing the service. If there is enough money, compensating mentors and contributors, beyond minor benefits, would certainly be the next move we would want to make. In the end, both the Math Forum and the NSF are hoping our efforts will enable the continuation of Ask Dr. Math, Teacher2Teacher, and other free Forum services.

  2. What if I need to retain copyright?
    In the event you have reason to want to retain copyright to your contributions, we can offer a form of agreement in which you retain copyright but give us permission to use what you contribute for our needs.

  3. What about copyright infringement?
    You haven't violated other people's copyrights simply by drawing on ideas you've drawn from other places, or by quoting someone, as governed by fair use. The section about copyright infringement is designed largely to protect us from people plagarizing.

  4. Is The Math Forum the author?
    The point is to acknowledge that contributors are writing on behalf of Ask Dr. Math, rather than publishing their own work. If you are uncomfortable with this, you may cross out the "sole author "portion.

  5. What about attribution?
    We will publish on one of the "about" pages information about those who are and have been "math doctors." Currently we publish the doctor's service nickname with the archived response.

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