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Here is the situation: Somebody asked, "I've learned from book X (which covers subject that called Morse theory) and I want to take the next step. What should I learn now?"

He got some references to applications of this theory, so he can read them.

I want to ask for known results that heavly based on the methods of this very specific theory.

Although the two questions are different, the first one contained a few answers which could also be accepted as answers to the second question.

My meta-question that arises is: Do I need to hesitate or avoid posting my question because of this partial similarity? Are we trying to prevent situations where questions are different and have diffrent perspective (learning VS known examples) but have some similar answers?

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    Maybe it helps in these cases to think about the answers. When the answers on your new question would fit on the other question (or vice versa) as well then the question is a duplicate. If the existing answers can't fit on your new question then the new question must be able to clarify what the difference is. And this needs to be more then a single claim My new Q is different from this other Q. Commented Oct 9 at 8:14
  • You can always specialize another question more or make it more general by relaxing some restrictions of the other question. That should pull potential duplicates further apart. Commented Oct 9 at 9:24

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"Here is the situation: Somebody asked, "I've learned from book X (which covers subject that called Morse theory) and I want to take the next step. What should I learn now?"" Isn't that good a question - that's too broad

I want to ask for known results that heavy based on the methods of this very specific theory.

is a somewhat more focused question but it feels like you're primarily asking for external resources. It is somewhat better but Its not quite there IMO

You can always build from an old question - talk about what the other question's missing and focus on what you need. In this case you can explain your specific problem, link back to the old question and use that as context for what you're missing, and work from there.

However You're better off asking about the problems you're actually facing understanding the topic - in the context of learning. Stack Exchange works best when you have a reasonably scoped question with a self contained answer. We don't really do well when our answers are "here's a list of external resources"

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