4 ms·

Weird. 1) When I grew up, multiplication and the letter X were styled very differently in books so that that was never ever a confusion. 2) The switch to dot,

Weird. 1) When I grew up, multiplication and the letter X were styled very differently in books so that that was never ever a confusion. 2) The switch to dot, was NOT to avoid ambiguity, but to shorten stuff (IIRC we did that when we learned order of operations and started solving simple equations - writing "4 (dot) a" instaed of "4 (cross) a" -- and then just "4a" but multiplications still appear often among parentheses - they were not ALL replaced with dot. 3) That's simply wrong. It is a different operation; dot product reduces to multiplication among scalars -- but so does cross product. It's okay to denote scalar product with either. Granted, this might be dependent on the exact curriculum one studies through - but mine did NOT have a simplified one that was replaced - instead, it started with the most explicit one, and got simplified (with new, compatible notation that did not replace older one, only extended it) through the years. And it seems this was almost the case for you too.

Izkata 6y ago
On 1, we used typed-up worksheets that didn't have different styling. And even then, on occasion we had to write the "x" as part of an answer, or the teacher on the blackboard while teaching, which was more what I was thinking of anyway. On 3, I think you misunderstood my point - in 2, we learned dot (the symbol) is multiplication, never touching on dot product because that was a good year or two later, then at that point were corrected to it not being what we first learned.
- Waterluvian 6y ago
  TIL dot is dot product. I just thought it’s another syntax for multiplication. That’s a pretty good example.
- beagle3 6y ago
  Historically if I'm not mistaken, dot is multiplication between scalars, and only later became "dot product". But this is distinction without difference. You used "cross" or "dot" to denote scalar multiplication. You did NOT use "a dot product restricted to scalars".

Izkata 6y ago

On 1, we used typed-up worksheets that didn't have different styling. And even then, on occasion we had to write the "x" as part of an answer, or the teacher on the blackboard while teaching, which was more what I was thinking of anyway. On 3, I think you misunderstood my point - in 2, we learned dot (the symbol) is multiplication, never touching on dot product because that was a good year or two later, then at that point were corrected to it not being what we first learned.

Waterluvian 6y ago
TIL dot is dot product. I just thought it’s another syntax for multiplication. That’s a pretty good example.
beagle3 6y ago
Historically if I'm not mistaken, dot is multiplication between scalars, and only later became "dot product". But this is distinction without difference. You used "cross" or "dot" to denote scalar multiplication. You did NOT use "a dot product restricted to scalars".