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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What is the convention for using unconventional notation?

I am new to writing mathematics papers, and often times I have the need to express an idea for which there is no standard mathematical convention (or if there is, may be too tedious to do formally). Consider the following definition of a set of the…
jII
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Notation of the square root in textbooks

About a year ago, I started to notice that a lot of textbooks of recent date seem to favor the notation $x^\frac{1}{2}$ over $\sqrt{x}$, while I agree that notating the square root as an exponentation with one half can be beneficial in circumstances…
wirrbel
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what does the following expression mean?

I need to make a program to calculate the values of some variables, but i am stuck at this expression. I dont really understand the meaning of the last term (Xij). I already tried searching on google, but i didn't find anything that could help me. I…
Raul Lopez
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Notational Question : (a) = (b)

What does the notation (a) = (b) mean? For context, a and b are elements of a ring. I have tried to find an answer by googling, but it's difficult to do this since I am not sure what to call it.
user98643
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Database for mathematical syntax

I sometimes encounter strange mathematical syntax like ${}_n\complement_k$ for $n\choose k$, or $x^{\bar k}$ which is defined as $\Gamma(x+k)/\Gamma(x)$. Is there any good resource where one can look for mathematical syntax and get a brief…
FUZxxl
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When do we use dash instead of equality sign?

I began reading "A Concise Introduction to Mathematical Logic" by Wolfgang Rautenberg and on the 17th page came up with the following notation: The author (as I can understand) uses dash sign instead of equality sign but I've never met such…
Igor
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What is the difference between $\gg$ and $\gt$?

What is the difference between $\gg$ and $\gt$ ? Thank you $\infty$ times.
user118865
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What does "$s-$" mean in $F(s_n)\uparrow F(s-)\le F(s)$

In the case at hand $F$ is the distribution function for a random variable and $s_n \uparrow s$, and so $F(s_n)\uparrow F(s)$ but what about this $F(s-)$? Thanks in advance!
Alexander
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Help needed for mathematical formulation

I'm trying to write a simple mathematical formulated which expresses the following: Let F={f1,f2,...,fn} be an ordered set of flights, each f being associated with a begin time begin(f) and an end time end(f). Moreover, each flight is assigned to…
Una
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What does this range notation mean: 0:01 < x < 10:0

I've got a homework problem which states "use a range of 0:01 < x < 10:0" I'm thinking this would mean the range 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, ... 9.98, 9.99, 10.00 Has anyone seen this notation before that can tell me what this range would be? Thanks, Joe
Joe Blitzer
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Notation for the union of all the sets in a family.

Does anyone know how to write the following: If $\mathcal{F}$ is a family of sets, I want the union of all $X$ in this $\mathcal{F}$. Thanks in advance!
Eduardo
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Difficulty understanding this notation

Under the summation it says $\tau=t$. So $\tau$ take the value of $t$ in the first Beta, $t+1$ in the 2nd beta, $t+2$ in the 3rd beta and so on (Is this right?) If the above statement is right, first beta term will be $\beta^{t-t} = 0$, 2nd beta…
user99257
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Unfamiliar with notation : $S \subseteq [d]$ where {$d, w_{1},w_{2}, ..., w_{d}$}

What does $S \subseteq [d]$ mean in the context of {$d, w_{1},w_{2}, ..., w_{d}$}? I don't get what [d] stands for.
OckhamsRazor
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What does the notation $G /^r H$ mean?

$G /^r H$ I saw this notation in an answer to a question and am not sure what it means. The exact context is as follows: $G=Sym(5)$ acts on the set $G/^r H$ of all right cosets of $H$ in $G$.
Tyler Murphy
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What does $F\left(x\right) \in L$ mean?

This is a notation question: In R. Duffin, “The Reciprocal of a Fourier Series,” Proc. Am. Math. Soc., vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 965–970, 1962. After Eq. 1, the author says "The Fourier coefficients of a function $F\left(x\right) \in L$ are denoted by…
okj
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