Syntax of common math ?

[Hal.]

Which of these that follow would you think are confusing to a person learning the basics ? The first 8 expressions are meant to convey the same information .

 

1 , Y = Sin x

 

2 , Y = sin x

 

3 , Y = sinx

 

4 , Y = Sinx

 

5 , Y = Sin (x)

 

6 , Y = sin (x)

 

7 , Y = Sinex

 

8 , Y = sinex

 

9 , Y = 0.000000700000131

Edited April 3, 2011 by hal_2011

[mooeypoo]

I don't quite understand the question. There are conventions in math and conventions in computer languages that display/use math.

 

If you're working with a computer system like mathematica or matlab, you have a syntax you must use whether it's confusing or not. Mathematica uses Sin[x] (including the capital letter), for instance. I don't think this should confuse anyone who knows that the function is sin(x).

 

1 and 2 are the same. 3 and 4 are the same. I personally try to show my tutoring students to use parenthesis at least until they get used to more advanced notation. So I personally prefer, for low-level at least, number 6.

 

As for 7 and 8, they're NOT accepted notation. If I had seen them in a math equation, I'd assume the exercise is actually [math]\sin{e x}[/math] rather than "sin(x)". So as far as I'm concerned, it should be completely out of the question.

 

Number 9 is equally irrelevant; it's not a function, it's a particular result.

 

Also, just a suggestion, hal, you know you can write math nicer in the forum by using 'math' tags? http://www.sciencefo...latex-tutorial/

 

Click on any of the math images and you can see the code used. Click on this one for instance:

[math]\left( \frac{\sin{x^2}}{x^\frac{2}{3}+\cos(x^2)} \right)^2[/math]

 

 

It produces a clean math presentation that is much clearer than the simple text-usage.

 

 

~mooey

[Hal.]

That's it , mooeypoo , Thanks ! What you say is what I wanted to know . I'll increasingly use LaTeX when I can . Maybe a few more people will enter some thought's about the original post .