> so as not to confuse with some multiplication/cross-product symbol There really isn't much need for the multiplication symbol when we have side-by-side multi

> so as not to confuse with some multiplication/cross-product symbol There really isn't much need for the multiplication symbol when we have side-by-side multiplication notation, and if x is a vector then you can underline it to distinguish it from the cross product (or just not name your vectors x). The "two c's" x has always looked bad to me and ends up getting confused with α and other things.