# Why do some of my, usually international/Indian students, write limits to the left of the integral?

I see a lot of my students (I am in the US), usually Indian, write the limits of integration to the LEFT of the integral sign rather than customary top or right. The formula will look for example like ${}_5^7 \int \sin(t)dt$.

Is this standard in India?

• I have observed two English students in the UK, doing the same thing. For one of them it is a personal choice, for the other, her high-school teacher's way of writing the limits of integral. – Amir Asghari Mar 4 '17 at 8:36
• Now that I read this, I do recall having seen this. Or even sometimes ${}_5\int^7$. I speculate that the original hand-written method had the limits directly above and below the integral sign, but for typesetting it was preferable to move them to one side or the other. – Gerald Edgar Mar 4 '17 at 16:09
• @GeraldEdgar I would say that still is at least a quite common way to write integrals (i.e. limits above and below). This most probably depends on country and I'm guessing the fact that the usual way to write limits in tex is with sub/superscripts that will become the new norm. Though of course latex does provide $\int\limits_{a}^{b} x\;dx$. – DRF Mar 7 '17 at 10:29