What do vertical bars with an index mean?

Question

A fairly basic notation question: what do the vertical bars in the following mean?

x = $_{k=0}^{3}\big|\;f(k)\;\big|$

I've never seen vertical bars with an index before and I can't seem to find the answer on google either (half the problem is that I don't know what I'm looking for!).

Encountered on page 3, equations 3-7 in this research paper. The most sensible interpretation I can think of is sum then take the absolute value.

Looks like a formatting error to me. Equation (2) on pg. 1 has half a right-floor bracket missing, so it's quite conceivable there's supposed to be a $\sum$ where the blank space is. The overly-large italicized A also seems a bit out of place. — Erick Wong, Mar 13 '14 at 20:34

Ross Millikan · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-13T21:19:12.180

0

It definitely looks like a $\sum$ is missing. You are supposed to sum up the four terms with $k$ running from $0$ to $3$, then take the absolute value. The sum indices then should be inside the absolute value signs.

edited Mar 13 '14 at 21:19

answered Mar 13 '14 at 20:45

Ross Millikan

374,822

For completeness I'd like to add that it would appear they actually meant $\big|\sum_{k=0}^{3};f(k);\big|$ because it makes much more sense in the particular context. – sjmeverett Mar 13 '14 at 21:16
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@stewartml: looking at it again, I agree. Fixed – Ross Millikan Mar 13 '14 at 21:19

What do vertical bars with an index mean?

1 Answers1