Presentation is very important in mathematics, just as it is in other fields. The main reason for this is clarity. Good presentation allows you to communicate more clearly the content of your work. A secondary reason is the appearance of competence. Careful presentation makes the reader think you were also careful with the content of your work. Although good presentation is rarely successful at bluffing past poor content, poor presentation can easily ruin good content.
The first thing the reader evaluates is the overall visual layout of the problem. Exactly how polished this should be will depend on the purpose of your writing. For our purposes, we have the following rules. If you are working on paper, then:
Put the good problem on its own sheet of paper, separate from any other problems. Regular quality paper is fine, but there should be no ragged edges or tears.
Print neatly or type. Do not switch colors or from pen to pencil in the middle of the problem. (You can use different colors to highlight if you wish.)
If you had to cross out material or erased a lot and left smudges, rewrite the problem. (It is a good habit to solve the problem first on scrap paper and then copy it neatly.)
Write out the entire question, including any instructions. If the question refers to another problem, include the relevant information from that problem. The goal is to make your work as self-contained as possible, so the reader does not need to look anything up.
All these rules may seem picky. Once you have learned this way to lay out your work, you will understand the principles behind these rules. Then you will know when to change the rules.
Acknowledgements: If you had help with this problem, or in any way include work that is not your own, then give proper credit. Not only is this the nice thing to do, but also it will protect you from allegations of cheating.
