Editorial Policy
This page sets out how material on Grafolyn is produced, what standards it is held to, and what happens when we get something wrong. It exists so you can judge whether to trust what you read here.
What we publish
Reference and instructional material on graphing and elementary mathematics: how to graph particular families of functions, how to interpret what you see, and how to operate the tools involved. Everything is aimed at students in high school and early university mathematics, and at teachers preparing material for them.
How material is written
- Worked examples over assertions. A rule stated without an example is hard to apply. Where we state a method, we show it working on a specific problem with real numbers.
- Every graph is real. Figures are produced by the same engine that powers the calculator, from the equation shown in the caption. We do not draw illustrative curves by hand, so a figure cannot disagree with the mathematics it claims to show.
- We name the traps. A guide that only covers the easy case is not much use. Where a topic has a standard pitfall, we say what it is and why it catches people.
- Length follows content. Pages are as long as the topic requires. We do not pad an article to hit a word count, and we do not cut a necessary explanation to keep one short.
Review before publication
Every page is checked against three things before it goes up:
- Mathematical correctness. Statements, worked examples and numerical answers are verified independently of how they were written.
- Agreement with the tool. Every claim about what the calculator does is tested against the calculator. The expression syntax quoted in a guide is run to confirm it parses and produces the stated result.
- Conventions. Mathematical notation varies between
countries and textbooks. We follow US secondary-school convention, because
that is where most of our readers are, and we state the convention
explicitly wherever a genuine ambiguity exists — for example that
logmeans base 10, and that1/2xis read as(1/2)x.
Use of AI tools
We use AI tools as part of drafting and reviewing, in the same way we use a spell checker or a computer algebra system: as an assistant, not an author. Every published page is reviewed by a person, and every mathematical claim is verified independently of whatever produced the first draft.
We say this plainly because the alternative is pretending otherwise. What matters for a reader is whether the mathematics is right and whether someone is accountable for it. Both are true here.
Corrections
We would rather be corrected than be wrong, and we treat mathematical errors as the most serious kind of mistake this site can make.
- Report an error through the contact page. Include the page and the specific statement.
- Reports of incorrect mathematics are investigated first, ahead of anything else in the queue.
- Confirmed errors are corrected promptly, and the page's review date is updated.
- Where a correction changes the substance of what a page said, rather than fixing a typo, we note it on the page rather than quietly editing.
Review schedule
Each page carries the date it was last reviewed. Pages describing third-party products or examination policy are checked at least annually, because those change without notice. Pages covering mathematics itself are revisited when we have reason to: a reader report, a related change to the calculator, or a realisation that an explanation could be clearer.
Advertising and independence
The site is funded by display advertising, and we are clear about what that does and does not buy.
- Advertisers have no influence over content. We do not accept paid placements, sponsored articles, or paid links, and no advertiser sees a page before it is published.
- Advertisements are marked. Each unit is labelled, so there is no ambiguity about what is content and what is paid for.
- No advertisements inside the calculator. Ad units appear in the written guides only. Placing one beside a keypad invites accidental clicks, which is unfair to both the reader and the advertiser.
- Recommendations are not paid. Where we mention a product, including a competing graphing tool, it is because it is relevant. We currently run no affiliate links. If that changes, it will be disclosed on the page it appears on and noted here.
Referring to other products
We write about products we do not make, such as the TI-84, because readers use them. We identify them by name because that is the only way to be useful, and we state on every such page that we are independent of the manufacturer.
Where we compare our tool with another, we try to be accurate about both, including where the other is better. A comparison that always concludes in our favour is an advertisement, not a comparison.
Contact
Editorial questions, corrections and complaints: [email protected].