The two best ways to reach me are:

• Private: email me at $\text{evan}\texttt{@}\text{evanchen}{.}\text{cc}$.
• Public: post in my public Discord server. (No DM’s.)

Note that I don’t reply to DM’s on Discord or otherwise.^[1] If your question doesn’t need to be private, there are some benefits to public asks:

• Anyone can answer the question.
• Anyone can see the answers provided (more valuable to community).
• It is easier to go back-and-forth in real time.

Although I do my best to respond to as much as I can, I admit that I am not able to respond to everything. (Also, my replies are often terse.) Note there are also special instructions if you are asking about:

• a specific math problem,
• math contest study advice,
• tech support,
• recommendation letters.

Some notes for emails#

Here are some hints:

• Don’t be too shy. I actually enjoy helping people (if that’s not obvious).
  (Examples of good requests: specific math query, something I wrote is unclear, found a typo, follow-up questions, permission requests, questions on my experiences, etc. I’m sure there’s more.)

• On the other hand, you can save yourself an email by checking if the question you are asking is here already. See e.g. the OTIS syllabus for OTIS questions, contest resource recommendations, and of course the Frequently Asked Questions.

• Don’t ask to ask, just ask.

• Comments, thanks, or suggestions on my writing are always appreciated! This includes any typos you find, no matter how trivial.

• Specific queries get faster and better responses. So “can you explain this line of your solution to USAMO 20XY/Z?” will usually be answered pretty swiftly. Conversely, “how do i geo” will get at best a link to the FAQ. In any case, please be patient.

• Proper syntax, English, capitalization, etc is appreciated. (I know some of you are not native English speakers, so I try to overlook this when I can.)

• Please include a descriptive nonempty subject. My mail client doesn’t always sort replies correctly if the subject is left empty.

• Prefer text to images or screenshots. I check my email in a terminal. So images will not show up inline.

• In general, How to ask questions the smart way is worth reading if you haven’t seen it before. (That document is meant for technical computing advice from hackers, but a lot of the advice like STFW, be precise, etc. applies well here.)

Special instructions for particular problems#

If you need help with an olympiad problem, you are better off asking on a forum like AOPS.

If you send me a problem, usually I will at least read it. If I have seen it before or can quickly see how to do it, I will generally be nice enough to write back and outline or link the solution. But otherwise I will likely be too embarrassed to admit I don’t have time to work on every problem that students send me, and simply archive your message.

Either way, if you do ask about a math problem:

• Please state where the problem is from, and link it if possible. If you only include a problem statement with no context on where you found it, I am much less likely to reply.
• Please describe what you’ve already tried on the problem.

As mentioned above, you will get faster answers from asking in my personal Discord server than emailing me directly.

Special instructions for study advice#

First, read the Contest FAQ if you haven’t already.

If you are asking a question along the lines of “how do I improve at math contests”, it is helpful to include as much specific information as possible^[2]. This usually means mentioning examples of problems you could not solve. It’s also helpful to talk about what you have already tried in terms of preparation.

If you are able to, please pick 3–10 examples of recent problems that you tried but could not solve. For each problem,

• reproduce the statement (as text, not screenshots)
• describe your thought process and what you tried.

This helps me understand how you think and where you are at.

This is an example of a well-thought question. It focuses on a specific topic, describes what the asker’s mindset is, names specific examples of problems and how the asker tried the problem, and mentions what resources the asker has already tried. Because of this, the replies are informative and targeted.

As mentioned above, you will get more answers from asking in my personal Discord server than from emailing me directly.

If you ignore this request and send a bland “how to get good” question, your may get a curt reply with a link to the beginner’s page, the FAQ, and this page. If that happens, it’s not because I didn’t read your question, but because I have nothing to say beyond what is already written here.

Tech help#

First, at the risk of stating the obvious, try search engines. If that fails, there are a couple channels in my personal Discord where you might get responses.

If you do have a question for me or my Discord, note two important guidelines:

• You must include a minimal working example (MWE).

  • For LaTeX, this means: post a complete file, starting from \documentclass and ending with \end{document}, that shows the issue. This way I can compile the code myself and then try to edit it.

  • For Linux issues, show the commands you typed and their output.

  • Similarly for other languages; provide a full self-contained example.

• You should send the code as text or pastebin so that I can copy it. Do not use a screenshot.

You should also definitely read How to ask questions the smart way is worth reading if you haven’t seen it before. (But do not ask the authors of the document your question; see the Disclaimer.)