Mathematics Stack Exchange
Mathematics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [notation]

Questions on the meaning, history, and usage of mathematical symbols and notation. Please remember to mention where (book, paper, webpage, etc.) you encountered any mathematical notation you are asking about.

Before asking a question on the site, please check if you can find your answer in Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols or the book A History of Mathematical Notations.

Alternatively, a textbook or paper usually takes the time to explain the notation they're using; please remember to mention where you've seen the notation you are asking about.

12848 questions
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Mathematical notation: max of 5 values

I have 5 robots and for each new job, one of them finish last. What is the correct notation for getting the maximum of the times of the 5 robots for a job. is below acceptable? $MaxTime = \max\{t_1,t_2,\ldots,t_n\} $ Thanks.
Jack
  • 45
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What does the notation $1\{x\in Q\}$ stand for?

While implementing Node Harvest I stumbled over the following notation in equation (1): $$\hat{Y}(\mathbf{x}) = \sum_{g=1}^q \mu_g 1\{\mathbf{x} \in \mathcal{Q}_g\} \mathbf{w}_g$$ I assume the expression $1\{\mathbf{x} \in \mathcal{Q}_g\}$ evaluates…
MB-F
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In Matrix notation what does it mean X 'X

In matrix notation what does it mean X 'X I see it in this academic paper, I can't find it in matrix operation and can't search with google. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2400219 page 7 , paragraph 3.1
paglos
  • 61
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How can I convert $A =$ {$c > 1$ : there exists a natural number $m$ ... to mathematical notation?

In this post A = {c > 1 : there exists a natural number m, such that for every n > m, there is a prime between n and cn}. Now I don't want to discuss on the problem itself, but only on how to write A = {c > 1 : there exists a natural number m, such…
PunkZebra
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Single Preceding Vertical Bar

I'm trying to implement the NIST test suite for (p)RNGs (http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/toolkit/rng/documents/SP800-22rev1a.pdf), however I've very quickly run into some notation I'm not familiar with. The notation in question is: What does the…
phate408
  • 33
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More rigorous notation than "ellipsis" for "and so forth?"

So I understand that in general, ellipsis are used in math where the pattern is easy enough to discern that it is up to the reader to understand what is meant by it. However, for such cases, I was wondering if anybody has any tricks to make such…
jsmith
  • 383
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Difference between (partial) order, preference, transitive relation operators

This question is partly about the difference between orders, preference relations and binary relations in the context where they are similar, but mainly about the use of the associated operator. The operator $\geq$ can mean greater than or equal on…
Thomas Bosman
  • 181
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Why is $\mathbb{Z}^{+}$ sometimes used to denote the natural numbers?

This does not really make sense to me for several reasons: The integers are usually constructed using a given construction of the natural numbers Historically natural numbers were conceived of before the integers The notation $\mathbb{Z}^+$, is…
Henrik
  • 2,394
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Notation of logarithms

Here's the problem: Me and my teacher are having a discussion about the notation of a logarithm. My teacher says that the only way of notating a logarithm is like this: $$^2\log\bigg(\frac 15\bigg)$$ I say that it is also possible to notate a…
Adnan
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When an equation has no solutions, denote it with $x\in\varnothing$.

My teacher claims that when an equation in variables $x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n$ has no solutions, you should denote this fact with $(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n)\in\varnothing$. An empty set can't have an element in it, so this can't be right.
user26486
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Better notation for a product

Let $A,B$ are two positive integers. Assuming that we have a product of the form $$ \prod_{\substack{a\mid A \\ \gcd(a,B)=1}}f(a). $$ Is there a better notation to be used instead of $a\mid A$ and $\gcd(a,B)=1$ under the product sign Bests
user80225
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1 answer

What does the following set symbol notation mean

[6] x [6] -> Z I know it's the cartesian product of [6], but I don't quite understand what [6] means? Does it mean all numbers until 6, or is another way to write {6}?
MichaelGofron
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Is this notation nonsensical?

I know personally made notations are generally a bad thing, but I've not seen any reason to stop using the notation I've made, and it feels more natural to use. Now, this my seem like a biased question to begin with, but my hoping was that there…
Frank Vel
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Clarification over product of products $\prod$ notation

This might be a trivial question to ask in this forum but I would like some clarification over a particular formula. Suppose we are given $$f^{eq}_i=\rho…
gmajal
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What is the meaning of "$<\infty$"?

Does the following notation just mean that the integral isn't positively infinite? $$\int _a^b f(x)\,\mathrm{d}x < \infty$$ Does it not also mean that the integral converges to some finite value? Does it not also mean that the integral doesn't…
kalkanistovinko
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