Questions on the pronunciation of mathematical terms and notation.
56
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there a definitive guide to speaking mathematics?
Is there a definitive guide to speaking mathematics to avoid ambiguity? I'm writing a program to generate text for a variety of mathematical expressions and would like to code it so that it adheres ...
30
votes
11answers
2k views
How is $e^x$ read aloud?
My current research colleague from New Castle told me that I was reading it wrong. I usually read it as e power x.
How do you read aloud $e ^ x$?
Is it:
e raised to x
e power x
e powered x
or e ...
16
votes
3answers
391 views
How do you pronounce the inverse of the $\in$ relation? How do you say $G\ni x$?
If I am talking about sets $G$ and $H$ and I want to say in words that $G\subset H$, I, like everyone else, will say that $G$ is contained in $H$, or that $H$ contains $G$.
But if I am talking about ...
15
votes
6answers
726 views
How to read letters such as $\mathbb A$, $\mathbb B$, etc., or $\mathfrak A$, $\mathfrak B$, etc.?
This is a soft question. We can read the letters $\bf A$, $\bf B$, etc. as bold A, bold B, etc. We can read the letters $\textit{A}$, $\textit{B}$, etc. as italic A, italic B, etc. We can read the ...
8
votes
6answers
744 views
pronunciation of sinh x, cosh x, tanh x for short
I heard teachers say [cosh x] instead of saying "hyperbolic cosine of x".
I also heard [sinch x] for "hyperboic sine of x". Is this correct?
How would you pronounce tanh x? Instead of saying ...
8
votes
2answers
604 views
How do you pronounce the symbol $'$ in $f'$?
I'm not a native English speaker. A quick Google search revealed the symbol's name is apostrophe, just like in French. When used in a mathematical setting, I usually call it prime, so for instance ...
6
votes
5answers
462 views
How does one read aloud Vinogradov's notation $\ll$ and $\ll_{\epsilon }$?
How does one read aloud the Vinogradov's notation $\ll$ and $\ll_{\epsilon }$ as in
$$f(x)\ll g(x)$$
and
$$c\ll_{\epsilon }\left( \prod\limits_{p\mid abc}p\right) ^{1+\epsilon}.$$
Is the first one ...
4
votes
1answer
137 views
pronunciation of “Kunen” [closed]
How should the last name of set theorist Ken Kunen be pronounced? I have heard both koo-nen and kyoo-nen from other people. Probably the best answer would be to say how he himself pronounces it, but ...
4
votes
2answers
392 views
How to pronounce “tableaux”?
How do you pronounce Young tableaux? Does it sound just like its singular form?
4
votes
2answers
538 views
How do you pronounce (partial) derivatives?
I am not an English speaker that is why I asked this question. In addition, I think english.stackexchange.com is not the proper place to ask this because (I am so sorry) I don't think most of them ...
3
votes
3answers
501 views
How does one pronounce $a \odot b$?
I have seen authors use $\star$, $\ast$, $\cdot$ and $\odot$ to represent arbitrary binary operations on sets. I'm wondering, what is the standard way to read or pronounce something like $a \star b$? ...
3
votes
2answers
248 views
What is this math symbol called?
My professors use a symbol $$x_0$$ and they pronounce it as x not or x nod, I am not sure what the exact name is because they have thick accents. I have tried looking this up on the Internet but I ...
2
votes
3answers
195 views
Pronouncing $A\triangle B$
How would one pronounce an expression involving a set symmetric difference, such as $A\triangle B$? Would that be read "A symmetric difference B?" Or perhaps something like "A xor B?"
This came up ...
2
votes
1answer
56 views
get the symbol $[E:F]$. My question is how would I pronounce this symbol?
Recently I have been reading algebraic extension by own and get the symbol $[E:F]$. My question is how would I pronounce this symbol?
1
vote
3answers
160 views
correct English pronunciation of the word poset
What is the correct English pronunciation of the word poset (Partially Ordered SET)?
paazit or pow-set?
1
vote
2answers
271 views
How to pronounce ℓ? Is there any other way than 'ell'?
Reading aloud from a graph theory textbook, I encountered the letter ℓ. I assume that most people simply pronounce it 'ell'. However, is there any other way to pronounce it?
1
vote
3answers
200 views
How to say the notation $ x_{i,j}^{ k}$
$ x_{i,j}^{ k}$
May I say the following to say the above notation?
x sub i j to k ?
x sub i j sup(prounced like "soup") k ? (Can I say "soup" for "superscript"?
Could you please show me a ...
0
votes
0answers
49 views
Pronunciation of $H^{1}(G, M)$
How does one say the cohomology group $H^{1}(G, M)$ out loud in a talk/lecture? Do people just say "H1 of G comma M"?
