Various aspects of writing mathematics such as style, notation, grammar, frequently used phrases and common mistakes.
Questions tagged [article-writing]
453 questions
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In English grammar, is a mathematical expression considered a clause or a noun phrase?
In English grammar, is a mathematical expression considered a clause or a noun phrase?
When I read the mathematical proof, I find that it is not uniform for authors to treat the mathematical expression.
e.g., (1) That "$x>2$" implies that…
magpie
- 75
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Is it not suitable to use Arabic numerals here?
In the reviewer's comments on my paper, he/she suggests replacing the following Arabic numerals with English letters (in the following examples). I believe his/her suggestions are correct. But I'm not quite clear on the reasoning behind this.
For…
licheng
- 2,266
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What is the right punctuation when introducing mathematical terms in a sentence?
This is not a mathematical question as such, but more about the correct grammatical way to describe the mathematical terms that are being introduced in a sentence.
I am used to writing sentences in this way:
A deterministic policy, $\pi$, is a…
jbx
- 383
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1 answer
Should I use plural nouns when the number of objects may be one or more?
I have the impression that it's a tacit convention that when there may be one or more objects in concern, we can just use a plural noun, but now I'm dithering.
I wrote the statement "every integer greater than 1 is expressible as a product of…
Long Horn
- 145
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Which hyphen to use for transformations that are not measure-preserving?
In How to write mathematics, P. R. Halmos has an amusing anecdote:
I once studied certain transformations called "measure-preserving". (Note the hyphen: it plays an important role, by making a single word, an adjective, out of two words.) Some…
red_trumpet
- 8,515
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Function that is 1 if input is positive, 0 otherwise
I am trying to write a certain matrix neatly for a paper, but I do not know how I would go about writing what I want formally.
I have two variables, x and y, which can assume any value. I want to express a matrix M whose first diagonal component is…
Iverie
- 23
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1 answer
How to write an equation that started with for each where
First of all, it was difficult to find the proper title for my question. Basically, I would like to write an equation for the following:
For each branch $b_i$ where i in 1 to n, the BEC value for that branch is
$$\sum_{l=1}^{w} r_l \ \forall \ r_l…
Nasser
- 125
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5 answers
Grammar Mistakes in Math Writing
May be my question is simple. But this question is confused me. In fact, I want to present a lecture and I don't want to have grammar mistakes.
My question: which one is correct?
A: Let $\mathbb{F}_q$ denote the finite field with $q$ elements.…
user3568
- 59
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0 answers
Reference to named theorem
Assume Theorem 1 is Pythagoras' theorem, I want to reference it and I want to be nice to the reader and tell them at the point of reference both that I'm referring to the Pythagoras' theorem as well as where they can find it. What is the most common…
gTcV
- 671
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The Difference Between "be" and "is" in math writing
When I want to write a paper, two problems bother me in my math writing!
First: what is the difference between be and is or are in math writing? For example, when I want to begin a theorem, I do not know if I should start with "Let $X$ be $Y$" or…
Amin235
- 1,867
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Redefine a symbol
I am writing a paper and I wish to redefine a symbol (in this case the $\Rightarrow$ symbol in latex) to read that if $X\Rightarrow Y$ then $X$ "uses" $Y$, where "uses" has meaning in the context of the problem. Is it enough to state this that I am…
Henry H
- 21
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Mathematical Writing: Put Background Material in separate section on its own?
When writing a mathematical journal or thesis, where is the best place to put the background material like theorems and definitions?
Currently I am thinking of two options:
1) Place it in a separate section on its own
2) Put the theorems/definitions…
yoyostein
- 19,608
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In-line writing of a function and of a particular value of it
Say I have a simple expression such as
$$
y = \frac{x}{\sqrt{x^2 + p}}
$$
where $x,y$ are variables, $x> 0$, and $p$ is a parameter.
I also want to highlight in the same line that $y = 1$ for the special choice $p = 0$.
Added If there's room for…
XavierStuvw
- 308
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1 answer
Math writing from code- how to write equations?
I have written code (in R) for my research project and am trying to publish a paper. Is there a good guide on how to take the concepts in my code and write them in a paper mathematically?
Specifically, I have two questions:
How do I write that a…
SPV
- 43
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1 answer
Which article to use in front of fBm?
I kindly ask for your help in the matter of usage of articles. My question is the following.
I usually see no article in front of "Brownian motion", e.g. (introducing a process)
B is Brownian motion
I assume this is the right way to say. Am I…
S. K-I
- 13