[texhax] Math notation

Reinhard Kotucha reinhard.kotucha at web.de
Wed May 10 22:44:16 CEST 2006


>>>>> "E" == E Krishnan <ekmath at asianetindia.com> writes:

  > On Tue, 9 May 2006, Lars Madsen wrote:
  >> From my knowlage it is mostly in physics those ISO specifications
  >> are widely used. To a mathematician (I have a degree in math) it
  >> just looks unnatural.

  > Sure it does, since we've been seeing the whole "dx" in italics
  > for all these years. But from a strictly notational point of view,
  > it is equivalent to the product of the variables "d" and "x". So,
  > a striaght "d" and a slanted "x" seems to be a more consistent
  > notation, emphasizing the fact that "d" is an operator and "x" is
  > a variable. Remains to be seen if this finds acceptance among
  > mathematicians. In the history of mathematical symbols, we've
  > quite a few instances of innovations losing out.

I had not been aware that there is an ISO Standard.  Thanks for the
hint.

The \textrm{d}x notation is used in Germany for decades.  There are
*very* few exceptions.  However I've *never* seen this notation in any
book written in English.

Lars, maybe it looks annatural for you because you are not accustomed
to it (yet).  To me, the American notation looks unnatural.

Regards,
  Reinhard

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinhard Kotucha			              Phone: +49-511-4592165
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover	                      mailto:reinhard.kotucha at web.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------




More information about the texhax mailing list