I find that my community-college students are usually very hazy on the status and meaning of chained equality statements (or other relational statements). This seems like a really critical element of mathematical grammar that is almost never directly discussed in books or lectures, and not assessed or tested in any way.
On that point, it occurred to me that I'm not entirely sure (and have no idea where to find) a standard prescription for how to read such statements out loud. For example, given: $$a = b = c$$
I could imagine reading this aloud as:
- "$a$ equals $b$ equals $c$",
- "$a$ equals $b$, and $b$ equals $c$",
- "$a$ equals $b$, which is equal to $c$",
or probably a variety of other constructions. What is most conventional, and what would be most clear for an audience struggling with these statements? Consider also cases that grow very long, possibly broken up over many lines on a single page.
Related: Framework for Compound Inequalities