

Ask HN: Proper way to report an error in a paper - __tmpid

I have found an error in a peer-reviewed paper by a well known author. At a certain point in his algorithm, the author gives a lower bound for allocating storage. He does not provide a proof for that bound and it turns out that the bound is too low.<p>I have found a correct bound and spent several hours proving it. I am mainly a programmer and not well versed in the ways of academia. My natural instinct is a) to send my proof to the author directly. Another option is b) to put a small paper on my website that corrects the flaw.<p>Option a) has the downside that you don't know if you'll get proper credit. Many people seem to use option b), but is that an accepted practice?<p>What would you do?
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jmonegro
Both of them. They could be done in the following combination: post a small
paper on your website about the flaw, with all the details - but make sure it
is purely objective. Then e-mail the author, and send him the link to your
article.

Provided that he's (or she) a nice guy/gal, it shouldn't be much of a problem
and you might even get some public credit by his/her part.

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ErrantX
Option b - and email the author too.

It's your "discovery" so you can do what you like with it :)

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__tmpid
Thanks guys, I'll go for b) + a).

