Timeline for A single symbol or notation means many things - does this actually cause problems for learners?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 28 at 17:38 | comment | added | vonbrand | If I ever talk about the function $1(x)$ I'll make triply sure they understand I mean the function that maps $x \to 1$ for all $x$. | |
| Nov 16 at 13:49 | comment | added | kcrisman | @gidds - correct, but it's a sloppy one, because of the ambiguity. If we always wrote $(2)(3)$ instead it would be very clear that grouping is involved. In principle this ambiguity isn't (fully) present with $2x$ or $2(x+y)$, though I think an argument could be made to require $(2)(x)$ or at least $(2)(x+y)$ - if that ship hadn't long ago sailed! | |
| Nov 10 at 6:32 | comment | added | Tommi | @GeraldEdgar Yes, brackets are used as normal. But for multiplication of numbers one uses a symbol for multiplication between the numbers. | |
| Nov 9 at 22:35 | comment | added | gidds | AIUI, the parens in ‘2(3)’ aren't a separate notation at all. They're simply for grouping (your first meaning) — in this case, a group holding a single number. The multiplication is the same implicit function you get from concatenating any two expressions, just as for 2𝑥 or -(-1) or (𝑎 + 𝑏)(𝑐 + 𝑑). | |
| Nov 9 at 19:41 | history | edited | kcrisman | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
typo
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| Nov 9 at 13:09 | comment | added | Gerald Edgar | @Tommi ... I assume in Finnish & Norwegian you do have things like $2(x+y)$. | |
| Nov 9 at 6:14 | comment | added | Tommi | The notation 2(3) is foreign to me in the Finnish, Norwegian and research mathematics contexts and would make a nice question, if it has not been asked already. | |
| Nov 9 at 2:53 | history | answered | kcrisman | CC BY-SA 4.0 |