# Regions in which "$a \times b$" is read aloud as "$a$ onto $b$" rather than "$a$ times $b$"

(This is only peripherally related to math education, but it seems to be slightly more on-topic here than in MSE; if people disagree, I will gladly remove it and post it there.)

I have recently started tutoring a college student who, I've noticed, uses a slightly nonstandard (?) way of speaking mathematics aloud. Given an expression like $$\frac{3\cdot n}{k}$$ she will say "3 onto $n$, over $k$". It's the use of the word "onto" that I am interested in here. To my (Michigan-raised) ears, it's an unusual way of speaking this mathematics; I would expect to hear "3 times $n$ over $k$".

This particular student is from the southern US state of Georgia, which leads me to suspect that this is a regionalism. So now I am wondering: where in the English-speaking world is this way of speaking taught?

• I grew up in Georgia, and I've never heard that way of speaking, although I can imagine some particular teacher talking that way. Mar 17 '18 at 10:30
• The number of comments and answers from people familiar with this terminology constitutes a pretty clear answer to the question. Mar 22 '18 at 0:12
• @AndreasBlass It just deepens the mystery: where did this student pick up this way of speaking? Mar 22 '18 at 0:18
• Have you asked the student? Mar 23 '18 at 11:27
• @JohnColeman I have. She seemed confused by my comment -- didn't realize she was saying it. Then a few minutes later she did it again and I said "There, you just did it again!" and she got a funny look on her face and said "Is that not normal?" That was when she told me she was from Georgia and I said it must be a regionalism. Mar 27 '18 at 23:27

"The sign $\times$ is called the sign of multiplication, and $a \times b$ is read thus "$a$ into $b$." " Algebra for Beginners, I. Todhunter, 1872.
"Multiplication, $\times$, multiplied by, or into; $A \times B$, $A$ into $B$." , First Lessons on Geometry, Alpheus Crosby, 1847