Mathematical English

Notation Reading x y x is much greater than y

2+2=4 2 plus 2 equals 4
xy x is not equal to y
a–b a minus b
ab a plus or minus b xy x is approximately equal to y
a times b xy x is proportional to y
ab a multiplied by b x approaches x nought
x  x0
ab a divided by b x tends to x nought
sin x the sine of x or sine x /sain/
a/b a over b
cos x the cosine of x or cos x /kɒz/
½ (a) half
tan x the tangent of x or tan x
⅔ two thirds sin-1 x the inverse sine of x
¾ three quarters f(x) f of x
/3 pi over 3 or pi by 3 f composed with g
f ⃘g
xn x to the (power) n f composite g
x2 x squared x x prime(d) or x dash(ed)

x
x3 x cubed x double prime(d)
x double dash(ed)
(x + 1)7 x plus one all to the (power) 7
the square root of x
xn x (sub) n
x root x AB A is a subset of B
the union of A and B
3
x the cube root of x AB
A union B
n th
x the n root of x the intersect(ion) of A and B
-x AB
e e to the minus x A intersect B
loga x log to the base a of x  therefore
 implies
ln x log x or the natural log of x
if and only if
the absolute value of x 
|x| the modulus of x or mod x
means the same as
 for all
x! x factorial
 there exist(s)
x>y x is greater than y
 nabla, del
xy x is less than or equal to y  pi /pai/
1 x  2 x is greater than 1 and less than 2 ∞ infinity

Notation Reading
lim f ( x) the limit of f of x as x tends to infinity
x
dy the derivative of y with respect to x
dx d y by d x
d2y the second derivative of y with respect to x
dx 2 d two y by d x squared
y the partial derivative of y with respect to x
x partial d y by d x
b the integral of y with respect to x between (x equals) a and (x equals) b
 a y dx the integral of y with respect to x from (x equals) a to (x equals) b
for all positive , there exists positive  such that,
  0,   0, x : 0  x  x0   , f ( x)   for all x satisfying 0  x  x0   , the absolute
value of f of x is less than 

Dr Janet Harris Page 1 of 1 Feb 2022