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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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Is there any specific convention to how mathematical equations are "read out"?

Often, mathematical information and formulas are shared through text, maybe on books or on websites. If you see the equation: $$x + 3 = 4y$$ we can easily read it out as "x plus three equals four y". But for some other equations such…
Pritt Balagopal
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Why were 'lengthen' and 'shorten' adopted to describe the odds of something happening?

Collins English Dictionary avows: To shorten the odds on something happening means to make it more likely to happen. To lengthen the odds means to make it less likely to happen. You can also say that the odds shorten or lengthen. I use the…
user53259
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What is the name of this operation using a vertical bar with subscripts and superscripts after a function?

I had some teachers in high school which uses an expression composed of a function $f(x)$ followed by a vertical bar followed by an lower value $a$ as subscript and an upper value $b$ as superscript. This expression than expands to $f(b)-f(a)$. That…
Seninha
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Terminology of different number representations

Background: I am writing an article and trying to find the proper words/terms for different representations of numbers. The article is regarding calculating the SIN, COS and TAN of a number of angles without getting decimal numbers because the…
Tim
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Is the term true? $\frac{\theta}{\theta - 1 } = \frac{1} {\theta-1} + 1$

Why is the following term true? What is the corresponding rule or how is it transformed? $\frac{\theta}{\theta - 1 } = \frac{1} {\theta-1} + 1$ Thanks!!
hoerf
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Length is to one dimension as Volume is to three dimensions as what is to four dimensions?

If you have a one dimensional object, it would just have length. If you had a two dimensional object, it would have area, and it's edges would have length. If you had a three dimensional object, it would have volume, it's faces would have area, and…
Grant Davis
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Is there a deep reason why math books use the phrase "is called" in definitions?

I am trying to struggle through some basic math textbooks and I noticed that in definitions they usually use the following phrasing: "A function $f:X \to Y$ is called one-to-one if..." I was wondering if there was a deep reason why they don't say "A…
Adam Shai
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What does it mean for a curve to be homothetic to another?

What does it mean for one curve to be homothetic (< Greek θετικός, < τιθέναι to place) to another?
Geremia
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Difference between relaxation and generalization

When does one say a theorem/condition relaxes another one, for example in graph theory? Is it the same thing as saying it generalizes?
Joe Robinson
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Difference between a given percent and the total

I'm writing some documentation for software and instead of writing "the difference between a given percentage and the total" I'm wondering if there is a single word term for this concept. I cannot think of one. My tentative variable name for this is…
Timothy Castillo
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Is there a formal general term for mathematical drawings?

I use the term “figure” and teach it to my students (high school). I like the terms “construct” and “construction” because all mathematics is made in our minds. A “figment” of our imaginations … But “construction” is reserved for straight edge +…
lukejanicke
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Proof involving bootstrapping?

Sometimes I read in papers that a certain line was achieved by use of "bootstrapping". No one has really defined for me explicitly what this means and I am having trouble finding resources which explain this. Can someone explain to me what this…
welshman500
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WLOG means losing generality?

Isn't the use of "without loss of generality" in math proofs a bad formulation? To me it's sound similar as someone saying: "Without getting personal, I think you're jerk." I mean, when the writer uses WLOG in a math proof, it's always followed with…
Kasper
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Taxonomy of equations

Is there an official taxonomy of equations that defines all the different types of equations that can be constructed using simple algebraic methods. For example, if I have an equation like the following: how can I find what this type of equation is…
Tyler Durden
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Extending function to a set of object in its domain

Let $f$ be a function from $\mathcal{A}$ to $\mathcal{B}$. I need to extend the function $f$ (to a new function $\widetilde{f}$) from a single object $a \in \mathcal{A}$ to a set of object $A = \{\, a_1, \ldots a_n \,\} \in \mathcal{P}(\mathcal{A})$…
user238415
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