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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Is there a mathematical symbol for a reversed, palindromic number?

If there is X, can it be reversed (made palindromic) by simply adding a character, a mathematical symbol?
Matthew
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What does the minimum mean in the notation $0 < \epsilon < \text{min}\{-a_i, b_i : i = 1, \dots, n\}$?

I am reading the basic properties of Concave Minimization from Global Optimization: Deterministic Approaches by Horst and Tuy and I came across such a notation on p. 10: $$0 < \epsilon < \text{min}\{-a_i, b_i : i = 1, \dots, n\}$$ I am having a hard…
Uyg
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What set does $\mathbb{Q}_{+}^{*}$ denote?

In the April 2020 issue of Crux Mathematicorum, there is a question in the Olympiad corner, OC479, which involves the following definition of a function, $$f : \mathbb{Q}_{+}^{*} \rightarrow \mathbb{Q}$$ What is the set that is given as the domain,…
Aaratrick
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What does $C_c^1((a, b))$ stand for?

What does $C_c^1((a, b))$ stand for? I know that $C^1((a, b))$ is a space of functions with the continuous first derivative on $(a, b)$, but I don't know what the small $c$ stands for.
Jacek Potapczuk
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Non integer bases

I have been doing work in various bases and have been convincing myself of the fact that our base-10 number system is not special at all. Any other base ($2$, $16$, hell, even base $100$ could work if you can find enough characters to assign). This…
Magna Wise
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How to write "at least one of these two is greater than..." in mathematical notation?

I want to write the following in standard mathematical notation. All integers $i, j$ such that $f(i, j) > E$ and $f(k, l) > E + \Delta E$ or $f(i, j) > E + \Delta E$ and $f(k, l) > E$ where $f$ monotonically increases with the square of each…
uhoh
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Notation - Comparing Values Within Two Sets

I do not have a background in mathematics. However, I do empirical research and I oftentimes have difficulties finding the correct mathematical notations for certain things I want to express: I am comparing two sets of values. Each value in one set…
shenflow
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Is there more than one meaning of the notation "$f(x)=[x]$"?

In my real analysis text book there is a question that says: Decide whether $f(x)=[x]$ is bounded above or below on the interval $[0,a]$ where $a$ is arbitrary, and whether the function takes on it's maximum or minimum value within that same…
objectivesea
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Notation for a set of functions with different parameter values

I have some functions $f_1(x), f_2(x), ... f_n(x)$ which all are of the same type. Lets say all are linear functions with $f(x)=mx+b$ but with different values for $m$ and $b$. More generic, I have parameters $p_1, p_2, ... p_k$ and more complex…
Julz
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Meaning of $\land$ (other than logical and)

Any idea what $\land$ means in the below formula? $$ \left( \sum_{i=1}^S p_i \land \sqrt{\frac{e^\epsilon p_i}{n}} \right)^2 $$ Here, $S \in \mathbb{N}$ is a natural number, $p_i \in \mathbb{R}$ are probability estimates, $\epsilon \in [0,\infty)$…
Peter
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Mathematical notation: end of a proof

What's the difference between $\blacksquare$ and $\Box$ in the end of a proof? I've seen both and I never got the difference.
user762249
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Notation for all combinations of choosing one element for each of $k$ sets

I have $k$ pairs of elements, and I want to take a summation over a product of the $2^k$ different ways to choose one item from set. Can someone suggest a good notation for this? So for example, if I had 3 sets of two elements $\{a_{11},a_{12}\},…
Craig Schmidt
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Is it okay to write $n = n(k)$ to say that $n$ is a function of $k$?

In Physics, there is the index of refraction $n$. Sometimes, it will be just a scalar, sometimes it will be a function of the wave number $k$. I often see $n = n(k)$ to denote that $n$ is actually a function of $k$. Since in Physics the function…
Martin Ueding
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Decipher the mathematical expression: $\underset{l}\arg\left[\underset{l=1}{\overset{N}{\wedge}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{\vee}}|m_{ij}-x_j|\right]$

Can anybody explain me the meaning of the below mathematical expression in simple English? Here $\text{index}, l, i, j$ are positive integers. $m$'s and $x$'s are decimal…
Debbie
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