My question got a downvote. Can I see somewhere why this happened?  This is my question:
Note: If you're looking for a simple explanation as to why comments aren't required on downvotes, see .   I used to get "upset" (though that is too strong a term) when I got downvoted without comment. If my answer isn't good enough then I'd like to know why. Not only does it improve the answer for the OP but it improves my knowledge too.  Where the down-vote has been explained I've found it useful &amp; it has improved my answer, or forced me to delete the answer if it was totally wrong.  So is there any way we can encourage people to leave a comment? Perhaps they don't lose rep if they explain their down-vote?  I must admit though that I haven't always explained my down-vote either so you could call me a hypocrite. I've also grown a thicker skin over the months of using SO (it seems to have come with the higher rep score ;-)), so I'm less bothered about this now.
What areas of physics depend on the sum $1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6+ 7+\ldots= -1/12$? This youtube video from Numberphile,   shows how the value is derived. In the video, one interviewee claims that "this result is used in many areas of physics". In the video, only string theory is mentioned.  Which areas of physics use or depend on the sum $$1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6+ 7+\ldots= -1/12?$$ What is the preferred way to find focused control in WinForms app? {genealogytree} How to model my Cousins Accidental indent in multicols environment One of my friends said that I would die if I drank distilled water (we were using it in a chemistry experiment) I gave it a go and surprisingly did not die.  I did a bit of  and found    It said that drinking only this kind of water could definitely cause death, as distilled water was highly hypotonic and it would make the blood cells expand and finally explode and ultimately cause death.  I wanted to know exactly how much of this water on an average was needed to be consumed to cause death. How to format numbers as currency strings I would like to format a price in JavaScript. I'd like a function which takes a float as an argument and returns a string formatted like this: &quot;$ 2,500.00&quot;  What's the best way to do this? As far as I know, those are the only two.  They should be pronounced Soogher and Soor, shouldn't they?  I looked them up on Dictionary.com, and their etymologies reveal no trace of an SH, except where the listing for sugar had:     Middle English sugre, sucre (noun) &lt; Middle French sucre  &lt; Medieval Latin succārum  &lt; Italian zucchero  &lt; Arabic sukkar;  obscurely akin to Persian shakar, Greek sákcharon   I see an obscure kinship to shakar, but the word morphed so many times since then that the SH disappeared pretty much completely.  And sure is even worse, with no sign of SH:     Middle English sur ( e ) &lt; Middle French sur, Old French seur  &lt; Latin sēcūrus   Why are these the only two like this? I'm applying for B1/B2 visa. In DS-160, it asks for      Monthly Salary in Local Currency (if employed)   However it doesn't mention anywhere if this should be gross (before tax deductions) or net (after tax deductions, whatever is credited into my account every month).  What should I fill here? How can I work around this TikZ bug: (\x)^2 and \x^2 produce different results in TikZ plot? Right place to ask a "discussion" question (I'm setting up a blog, what should....) Div's class vs id When using divs when is it best to use a class vs id?   Is it best to use class, on say font variant or elements within the html? Then use id for the structure/containers?   This is something I've always been a little uncertain on, any help would  be great. Uncertainty in parenthesis If $f$ is measurable and $fg$ is in $L^1$ for all $g \in L^q$, must $f \in L^p$? Let $f$ be a measurable function on a measure space $X$ and suppose that $fg \in L^1$ for all $g\in L^q$. Must $f$ be in $L^p$, for $p$ the conjugate of $q$? If we assume that $\|fg\|_1 \leq C\|g\|_q$ for some constant $C$, this follows from the Riesz Representation theorem. But what if we aren't given that such a $C$ exists? How compatible are my old Nikon lenses? I'm looking at buying a new SLR body. I have an old film Nikon entry-level SLR (about ten years old) with a kit lens. If I buy a Nikon body, how likely is it that my old lens will work on it? Would I be better off buying a new lens? Short Story: Army investigates barrier and house I am trying to identify the author and title of a short story with the following plot.  A scientist narrates a story where s/he is called in to help the army investigate an unexplained phenomena.  The army has cordoned off an area where a prairie home has appeared. It is surrounded by a dome that allows things to enter but not to leave. Briefing the scientist, the Army explains that it appears that it is a family of five with mother, father, son, daughter, and grandfather. They look completely normal and live an idyllic life of the 40s or 50s.  They continue to send probes in to investigate the dome and its proprieties. Not sure if this a time anomaly or another dimension.  An Army lieutenant, so enamored by their life runs through the barrier to join the family. The Family faces split into an unnaturally wide smile full of sharp teeth runs towards him and tears him to pieces &amp; eats him. The grandfather then looks up acts as if he can see the forces gathered outside the barrier. He then retrieves a book and it looks as if he reads it out loud and the house and barrier disappear. The narrator worries that the aliens will return. Is globbing a feature of the shell? How can I charge my iPhone without waking up my MacBook Pro? According to :     The electron has no known substructure. Hence, it is defined or assumed to be a point particle with a point charge and no spatial extent.   Does point particle mean the particle should not have a shape, surface area or volume?  But when I searched Google for the "electron shape" I got many results (like  and ) that says electrons are round in shape. Historical reason behind different line ending at different platforms Why did DOS/Windows and Mac decide to use \r\n and \r for line ending instead of \n? Was it just a result of trying to be "different" from Unix?  And now that Mac OS X is Unix (-like), did Apple switch to \n from \r? Batch-Resizing images in OS X to a certain height