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.

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Best way to refer to and discuss parts of expressions

I guess this is a very basic question, but I want to get this right: I have a result, e.g., $$c=\frac{1+r-546u\sqrt{h-8+7}}{b+3+f}.$$ Now I want to discuss the numerator and denominator separately in a paper in a 'correct' way. First, we inspect…
Karl A
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Meaning of this notation, $\infty 1$ or ∞ (1 typeset in Blackboard Bold like or $\Bbb I$)

I'm reading a paper and I came across this notation, any idea? I looked for this notation but couldn't find much anywhere, at first sight I thought it is L infinity norm, but it seems it isn't that as…
Abhineet Pandey
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Mathematical notation for running max

How can we represent a function which outputs the running max in mathematical notation? I am under the impression that this sort of functions are not, strictly speaking, mathematical functions because at each item of the domain can correspond more…
Javide
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Correct notation for a versor

I am writing an engineering thesis and I am in doubt about the correct notation for versors. Is it a circunflex accent, an anticircunflex/caron accent or a breve? I appreciate any comments you might have.
tron_ccp
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Why is there a regional discrepancy in mathematical symbols?

So for most of my school years I never used the divisor sign(/), instead opting for putting a number above the other, with a horizontal line in between. Just to be sure, "/" is division, right? For 'similar' I never used/saw two wavy lines used,…
economics
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Notation of a RGB color swatch

Hi try to figure out how to annotate a color swatch, consisting out of n RGB values and tried to outline it below, does this make any sense? Should RGB colors generally be described as vectors? Let $S$ to be a set (color-swatch) containing a finite…
baconStrips
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What does "mod" mean in "$L(c_0,...,c_n \bmod a_1,...,a_m, b_1,...,b_m)$"?

In Section 2.2 of Brent and Kung's "Fast Algorithms for Manipulating Formal Power Series" (PDF link via harvard.edu), this notation appears: $$L(c_0,...,c_n \bmod a_1,...,a_m, b_1,...,b_m)$$ This "mod" does not appear to sound like something like…
ueir
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Notation for "absolute value" in multiplicative group.

In an additive number group (e.g. $(\mathbb{Z},+)$) there is a well known notation for absolute value, namely $|a|$, which coincides with $\max(a,-a)$, for $a \in \mathbb{Z}$. When the context is a multiplicative number group instead, is there a…
chtenb
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Notational ambiguity in "$\sqrt 2$ = a rational number"

I was reading chapter 29 page 296 of the book A Book Of Abstract Algebra (second edition) written by Charles C. Pinter, and the equation below was given: $$\sqrt{3} = a + b\sqrt{2}$$ where $a, b \in \mathbb {Q}$. They were solving for $\sqrt{2} $ in…
EA Lehn
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Which is better notation? "$A_i\neq0, i=1,\dotsc,k$" vs "$A_i\neq0, \forall i=1,\dotsc,k$"

Consider a collection $A=\{A_1,\dotsc,A_k\}\subseteq\mathbb{N}$. Suppose that every element of $A$ satisfies a property, say, they are nonzero. Which of the following notation would you prefer? $A_i\neq0, \quad i=1,\dotsc,k$ $A_i\neq0, \quad…
Celine Harumi
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How to Make a Math Symbol in Word

I have a student typing up her thesis. She needs to type external tensor, $\boxtimes$. Is there anyway to get that symbol in Microsoft Word? She doesn't know how to use TeX.
J126
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What symbol can be used to denote an assignment of a left hand side value to a right hand side variable?

If I am doing a calculation that involves some intermediate value, for example: $intermediate = \frac{17}{13} = 1.30769230769 \\ answer = intermediate + 10.1345 \\ answer = 1.30769230769 + 10.1345 \\$ what symbol can I use for left to right hand…
luke
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symbols to denote mathematical structures

I would like to collect a list of symbols used to denote some mathematical structures. For example, consider the following situation: A vector space is usually denoted by $V,V',W,W'$. Suppose in some set up all these $4$ letters has different…
Praphulla Koushik
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Scientific E Notation and conversion to decimal

I am working with satellite data and having fits understanding how to work with it because of the way the data is written (scientific E notation?). My math skills, unfortunately, are not where they should be for a programmer. I hope to find an…
David
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Can a number have two decimal points like 274..2 in maths or any physics notation.

There is book of physics and it's written in it that the gravitational acceleration on the surface of the sun is 274..2 I wanted to know if it's a printing mistake or it's some kind of a notation in physics or maths.
A.F.R.N
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