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Most of the advice is good, though not particularly different from an advice you would give about writing any essays. This one though: > Avoid placing equation

Most of the advice is good, though not particularly different from an advice you would give about writing any essays. This one though: > Avoid placing equations in the middle of sentences. Mathematics is not the same as English, and we shouldn’t pretend it is. I don't know what to make of it. Equations are supposed to be part of sentences, and mathematical equations are compact expressions of relations. For example, the sentence, Newton taught us that force is equal to mass times acceleration, where both mass and accelerations are inertial quantities. can be compacted as Newton taught us that $F=ma$, where both the mass $m$ and acceleration $a$ are inertial quantities. This becomes more useful with more complex relations. Generally, hanging mathematical expressions (those independent of sentences) should be avoided to the utmost in any technical report.

suuuuuuuu 1y ago
I think it's just wrong. Related, linked recently here: https://dwest.web.illinois.edu/grammar.html https://dwest.web.illinois.edu/grammar.html The authors are biologists, so I suspect they're not particularly versed in mathematical writing (and that McCarthy was not likely providing them much advice on it).
- abdullahkhalids 1y ago
  The link is a pretty great. A bit long though. Not sure if I can get my charges to read it all and apply it to their writing.
bo1024 1y ago
Yes, this is just bad advice if your audience is fluent in mathematical notation. There's another piece of advice that is bad for formal mathematical writing: > And don’t use the same word repeatedly — it’s boring. If the word has a formal definition, this is bad advice. For example, in a game theory setting, we might say there are n agents. If we start calling the agents players, people, etc., it can get confusing, especially if there are other entities involved besides the agents (such as a mechanism designer or so on).

suuuuuuuu 1y ago

I think it's just wrong. Related, linked recently here: https://dwest.web.illinois.edu/grammar.html https://dwest.web.illinois.edu/grammar.html The authors are biologists, so I suspect they're not particularly versed in mathematical writing (and that McCarthy was not likely providing them much advice on it).

abdullahkhalids 1y ago
The link is a pretty great. A bit long though. Not sure if I can get my charges to read it all and apply it to their writing.

bo1024 1y ago

Yes, this is just bad advice if your audience is fluent in mathematical notation. There's another piece of advice that is bad for formal mathematical writing: > And don’t use the same word repeatedly — it’s boring. If the word has a formal definition, this is bad advice. For example, in a game theory setting, we might say there are n agents. If we start calling the agents players, people, etc., it can get confusing, especially if there are other entities involved besides the agents (such as a mechanism designer or so on).