What is the difference between "the above theorem" and "the theorem above"?

Question

How do you use these two? What is their difference? "the above theorem" and "the theorem above".

In my case, I want to say something like: Proof of the theorem above follows from lemma X and theorem Y.

Huh, the context-free-grammar tag seems weirdly appropriate here.... — , Aug 09 '16 at 22:47
Um, you are asking about proper English usage? Perhaps you should ask at an writing or language forum? As a mathematician all I can say is they both refer to a theorem that is above on a page. Can't see this as a mathematical question at all. — fleablood, Aug 09 '16 at 22:55
@fleablood I think this is a question of mathematical writing in particular, not general English usage. Still, it might be more suitable to migrate this question to http://english.stackexchange.com/ after all. — David K, Aug 09 '16 at 23:05
I see that writing a math paper might have particular grammar issues that doesn't necessarily pertain to any mathematics. However this usage doesn't seem to pertain to solely mathematics. I imagine an english paper ("the above argument") and any discipline ("the above result") will have the same issue. — fleablood, Aug 09 '16 at 23:33
@user360392 If your professor has issues at this level, there is something he/she is not getting at home... — Jacob Wakem, Aug 10 '16 at 00:45

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 09 '16 at 22:53

3

In your sentence, "above" is an adjective describing the noun "theorem," therefore technically you should say: "the above theorem."

The phrase "the theorem above," is actually short for saying "the theorem that is above."

answered Aug 09 '16 at 22:53

user35687

805

So the two expressions can be seen as grammatically correct, if I understand well. – paf Aug 09 '16 at 22:57
@paf I agree with that. – David K Aug 09 '16 at 23:03

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 10 '16 at 00:32

My first thought is that "the theorem above" sounds much better. Wondering to myself why, I think it's because "the above theorem" is using "above" as an adjective, which it's not - it's an adverb or a preposition.

People do say "the above theorem", however - I wish they wouldn't, but they do, and since people do it's probably not worth worrying about.

Now, if you asked about the difference between "What is there difference?" and "What is their difference?" I could be more definitive - the first is simply wrong.

What is the difference between "the above theorem" and "the theorem above"?

2 Answers2