4 ms·

I really disagree with the idea that math uses greek letters just to make things less accessible. If you have a better symbol than the large S for an integral,

I really disagree with the idea that math uses greek letters just to make things less accessible. If you have a better symbol than the large S for an integral, or Sigma for sums, I'd love to hear it.

wtallis 6y ago
People who complain about math notation and want something more verbose like programming usually don't fully understand the notation they're complaining about. In particular, there are fairly strong conventions for which letters get used for which purposes. Longer variable names that try to be more descriptive often aren't as necessary as they might seem, and in many cases would make an expression less generic than it really is. And then there's the fact that what's easy to type on a standard keyboard without a specialized IME has little bearing on what notation is most effective for the reader, or for someone writing on paper or blackboard.
- staticassertion 6y ago
  It would be cool if more papers had a glossary for the symbols they use, though. If you're going to use a bunch of single character symbols, at least put somewhere what they are.
  - gumby 6y ago
    The abstract and introduction to a math paper usually does so, though sometimes they slip up and in then in the middle of the paper you find some strange symbol and have to manually binary search for it.
    - slavik81 6y ago
      I wish I could click on a symbol in an equation and have it either pop up a full name / definition for standard symbols, or scroll to where the variable was defined for paper-specific symbols. When studying papers, I spend way too much time trying to answer questions like, "what was 'n' again?"
      - gumby 6y ago
        I usually write notes as I read anyway — not just marginalia but typically on the back of the first page or in my notebook. Back of the first page is an excellent place for things like that.

4 ms·

I really disagree with the idea that math uses greek letters just to make things less accessible. If you have a better symbol than the large S for an integral,

by aspaceman 6y ago

I really disagree with the idea that math uses greek letters just to make things less accessible. If you have a better symbol than the large S for an integral, or Sigma for sums, I'd love to hear it.

wtallis 6y ago
People who complain about math notation and want something more verbose like programming usually don't fully understand the notation they're complaining about. In particular, there are fairly strong conventions for which letters get used for which purposes. Longer variable names that try to be more descriptive often aren't as necessary as they might seem, and in many cases would make an expression less generic than it really is. And then there's the fact that what's easy to type on a standard keyboard without a specialized IME has little bearing on what notation is most effective for the reader, or for someone writing on paper or blackboard.
- staticassertion 6y ago
  It would be cool if more papers had a glossary for the symbols they use, though. If you're going to use a bunch of single character symbols, at least put somewhere what they are.
  - gumby 6y ago
    The abstract and introduction to a math paper usually does so, though sometimes they slip up and in then in the middle of the paper you find some strange symbol and have to manually binary search for it.
    - slavik81 6y ago
      I wish I could click on a symbol in an equation and have it either pop up a full name / definition for standard symbols, or scroll to where the variable was defined for paper-specific symbols. When studying papers, I spend way too much time trying to answer questions like, "what was 'n' again?"
      - gumby 6y ago
        I usually write notes as I read anyway — not just marginalia but typically on the back of the first page or in my notebook. Back of the first page is an excellent place for things like that.