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What is the meaning of "in general" in mathematical texts? Does it mean usually or it means always or sometimes usually and sometimes always according to the text?

Dante
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  • In general means for all other cases.. Context of course matters... –  Oct 28 '14 at 04:18
  • Depends on the text, naturally. Usually it means that there might be exceptions, but they are not representative (that is, they have probability/measure zero, they "almost never happen"). – Pedro Forquesato Oct 28 '14 at 04:25
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    @PraphullaKoushik so: in general, in general means for all other cases – Ben Grossmann Oct 28 '14 at 04:51
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    Is there a specific example of the word popping up that you had in mind? – Ben Grossmann Oct 28 '14 at 04:51
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    In general, it means in general, except, of course, when it doesn't. – copper.hat Oct 28 '14 at 05:09
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    I think the OP might be confused by the following usage: One sometimes writes "In general, continuous functions are not differentiable". In conjunction with the not, such a statement has the be read as "the general assertion that continuity implies differentiability is false". It does not mean that a continuous function is never differentiable. – PhoemueX Oct 28 '14 at 05:46
  • Regarding: "In general, continuous functions are not differentiable." I would declare this assertion to be false. What is meant is instead: "Continuous functions are not in general differentiable." – Jim Ratliff Jul 04 '23 at 17:34

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