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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Simple assignment notation question

this is an elementary question, but I haven't encountered this notation before: S, and T are being assigned but what does "/" signify here? Thanks
user3547456
  • 97
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Does the LaTeX $\eqslantless$ symbol, or the comparable Unicode ⋜, have a well defined meaning for binary numerical relationships?

(Moved from mathoverflow as considered not researchy enough) This came up via someone proposing a change from a $A \leq B \leq C$ in a computer graphics API specification to $A' \eqslantless B' \eqslantless C'$, where A/B/C are all scalar real…
Jon
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Writing mathematically a formula that checks every digit

I want to write mathematically a formula that checks the amount of the digit $0$ on even and on odd position of a given number $N$. So for example $N=2000$ has $2$ zeros on odd position and $1$ zero on even. Or if $N=51601$ then $0$ zeros on odd…
user185346
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0 answers

Mathematical notation to represent dimensions

I'm writing for scientific journal and thesis and I was wondering if I'm using the correct mathematical notations. If I have defined $D_1$ as the first dimension in a $n$-dimensional database, then, is it the correct way of writing $((D_i)_{i=2}^n)$…
bcxiii
  • 53
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Notation for showing many variables are greater than other variables

Suppose I have a set of variables, $x$, $y$, $z$ that are all greater than other variables $a$, $b$ yet we know no relationship between the first set or second set of variables. So we want to show $x > a$, $x > b$, $y> a$, $y> b$, $z > a$, $z > b$…
user1246462
  • 301
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How to denote a set of sequences?

How do you denote a set of sequences of a certain length, consisting of real numbers? For example, is this correct? $$S=\{A:A=\{a_k\}_{k=1}^{10}\wedge (\forall k\in\Bbb{N},k\le 10:a_k\in\Bbb{R})\}$$ Or: $$S=\{\{a_k\}_{k=1}^{10}:(\forall…
Mastrem
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$(a,a]=$? Where $a \in \Bbb R$.

We were taught that $[a,a]=\{a\}$ and $(a,a)=\emptyset $, For $a \in \Bbb R$. So I wonder what will be the result in the case $(a,a]$? Let $A=(a,a]$. Then $a \in A$ and $a \notin A$. This is absurd. So I guess $A$ is undefined.
Error 404
  • 6,006
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Precedence of $n$-ary operators

What precendece do big $n$-ary operators have in relation to others? Suppose I have: $$\sum_{i=1}^n i^2 + 8$$ I would assume that the $8$ is part of the summables, so we'd get: $$8n + \sum_{i=1}^n i^2 = \frac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6} + 8n$$ So I'd guess the…
Teemu Piippo
  • 121
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Isn't writing sin x instead of sin (x) wrong?

Sine is a function and functions are all written as $f(x)$ where $f$ is the 'name' of the function. We never see any textbook using $f\ x$ to denote a function of $x$. And also, using $\sin(x)$ saves us from blunders like $\sin x^2$ which can be…
sigsegv
  • 553
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2 answers

Is there a standard notation for this set of numbers

$$\left\{\frac{K}{3^n} : K\in\mathbb N,\ n\in \mathbb N \right\}$$ Any positive integer divided by any power of $3$.
Ben Crossley
  • 2,544
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1 answer

What is the meaning of 'sup' in this equation

What is the meaning of 'sup' in this equation: $$s(n)= \frac1n\sup_{k\ge0}T^{(k)}(n)$$ The equation is from this paper on the Collatz conjecture.
KeithSmith
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Mathematical notation "is dependent on"

I am an engineer and I want to describe that a parameter depends on the value of other parameters. Is it correct if I write formally "is a function of"? For example, the step size of a solver depends on the end time of the simulation and the…
Math_reald
  • 1,317
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Is there a mathematical notation to denote truncation to a proportion?

Is there an established mathematical notation/symbol for truncating a variable to values between zero and one, i.e. to a proportion? This would be equivalent to $\min(\max(x,\,0),\,1)$? Via Is there a mathematical operator to truncate negative…
Matt Flor
  • 121
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2 answers

Mathematical notation for "in the domain of"

Is there a mathematical symbol that lets me say something like "5 is in the domain of f" or "5 is NOT in the domain of f"?
CoilKid
  • 133
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5 answers

Mathematical notation of set with $n+3$ members

One of the math problems I have describes a set of numbers this way: let there be a set A such that $A=\{{1,2,3,...,n+3}\}$. I don't understand what the $n+3$ means and how the set actually looks like.
Yos
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