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Questions tagged [terminology]

Questions on the usage and meaning of words in mathematics, the names for mathematical entities, and other such questions.

Terminology is a discipline that studies, among other things, the development of terms and their interrelationships. This tag is intended to be used for questions on the usage and meaning of words in mathematics, the names for mathematical entities, and other such questions.

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What’s the difference between “the value x” and “the value of x”?

What’s the difference between “the value $x$” and “the value of $x$”? I’m from Poland. I read scientific articles and can’t figure out the difference. Some sample sentences: Thus, a function $f$ should be distinguished from its value $f(x_0)$ at the…
Krzysztof Potyrała
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The phrase "coordinate-wise" and its meaning

I was reading through a paper, Learning Fast Approximations of Sparse Coding (LeCunn, ICML 2010) and ran across a phrase I'm not terribly familiar with. Apologetically, I quote with very little context (though I'll link to a copy of the paper): [a…
Brian Vandenberg
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"stereographic"

I'm wondering about the proper use of the term "stereographic projection". Draw a line from a point on a sphere, which let us call the north pole, through another point on the sphere, to a plane parallel to the plane tangent to the sphere at the…
Michael Hardy
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Term for "existence" and uniqueness, when you already have solution candidate?

For any given property $P(x)$ defined for $x\in X$, we can ask "does there exist an $x\in X$ such that $P(x)$?", and "if so, is this $x$ the unique element of $X$ that satisfies this". This is called "existence and uniqueness". However, assume now…
user56834
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What is the English term for the rings $\mathbb{Z}_n$?

Suppose $n\geq 2$ is an natural number and $\mathbb{Z}_n$ is the ring of integers modulo $n$. In German we call these rings "Restklassenringe", but, as odd as it sounds, I can't find the appropriate English term. The German Wikipedia article does…
Mark Neuhaus
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Exact meaning of "consists of"

What does consists of mean exactly, say in an arithmetic progression of length $n$ consists of prime numbers? Are there only prime numbers or must there be at least one prime number in the progression?
fosho
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How to call "Nebendiagonale" in English?

Given a quadratic matrix $A=\begin{pmatrix} a_{11}& a_{12} &...& a_{1n}\\ a_{21} &a_{22} & ... & a_{2n} \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ a_{n1} & a_{n2} & ... & a_{nn}\end{pmatrix}$, the set $\{a_{i,j}: i-j=0\}$ is called the diagonal. What…
user546191
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"Analysis" vs. "Synthesis" terms

What is the difference between the terms "analysis" and "synthesis" used in a mathematical context? For example, Hawkins's Emergence of the Theory of Lie Groups p. 3 says that Klein and Lie were self-styled "synthesists" in the midst of analysts…
Geremia
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Terminology of a space in real-analysis

Since this is a very simple question, i didn't want ask this here not to bother you, so i saw wikipedia and googled this but still don't get what this space is called.. I want to know (i)name, (ii)abbreviation and (iii)Latex of this space. (i.e.…
Katlus
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Is there a mathematics term for the equivalent of "stanza"?

Is there a mathematics term for the equivalent of "stanza"? By this I mean a repeated unit of similar properties, but not exactly the same. For example $$…
Brendan
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What's a structure which does not have an underlying set?

In mathematics, a structure on a set is an additional mathematical object that, in some manner, attaches (or relates) to that set to endow it with some additional meaning or significance. The concept of homomorphism has been generalized, under the…
Kinzle B
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Which term to use for real numbers in the [0, 1] interval?

Is there a term for referring to a real number in the [0, 1] interval? Examples: (Sorry for dumby question, but I don't find resources!) 1 0.5 .3 0.9 I've heard of decimal, but I think it's on the [0, 1) interval.
user320216
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Terminology for (new-old) / new

The term percent change is commonly used to describe $\frac{new - old}{old}\times 100$ which is the fraction of the old value by which it has grown. There is a related concept which is $\frac{new - old}{new}\times 100$ which is the fraction of the…
DRayX
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What is a sparse set?

In its article on thick sets, Wikipedia references the notion of a sparse set, but Wikipedia does not have an article on sparse sets. It doesn’t seem to be defined in Encyclopedia of Mathematics, nor in Wolfram MathWorld, either. I know that terms…
user27325
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What is the origin of the (V)BODMAS rule?

When finding out the origin of the (V)BODMAS rule, found out this from google "BODMAS was introduced by Achilles Reselfelt to help in solving mathematical problem involving operational signs. Whenever an operation is introduced in a sum,BODMAS rule…
debo.stackoverflow
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