Characteristics and

Conventions in the
Mathematical
Language
MS. MARIE SHANNE F. MARIANO, LPT.
 Have you read about one of the story in the bible known as “The
Tower of Babel?”
This story is about constructing a tower in able to reach its top to
heaven; the Kingdom of God. At first, the construction of a tower is
smoothly being done since all of the workers have only one and only
one language. But God disrupted the work of the people by making
their language different from each other. There were a language
barrier and the people were confused what the other people are
talking about resulting the tower was never finished and the people
were spread in all over and different places of the earth.
Based on the story, what was the most important thing that people
should have in order to accomplish a certain task? Yes, a
“language”. Language is one of the most important thing among the
people because it has an important role in communication.
 The language of mathematics, like any other
languages, can be learned; once learned, it allows
us to see fascinating things and provides us an
advantage to comprehend and exploit the beauty
of beneath and beyond. Hence, in able to
understand better different topics in mathematics, it
is very important that you must learn first on how to
read and understand different symbols in
mathematics which used in mathematical
language.
Characteristics of Mathematical
Language
1. precise (able to make very fine distinction)
2. concise (able to say things briefly); and
3. powerful (able to express complex thoughts
with relative cases).
Comparison of Natural Language
into Mathematical Language
Expressions versus Sentences

Just as English sentences have verbs,

so do mathematical sentences. In the
mathematical sentence; 3 + 4 = 7 the
verb is =. If you read the sentence as
‘three plus four is equal to seven, then
it’s easy to hear the verb. Indeed, the
equal sign = is one of the most popular
mathematical verb.
Connectives

A question commonly encountered, when presenting

the sentence example 1 + 2 = 3 is that;
If = is the verb, then what is + ?
The answer is the symbol + is what we called a
connective which is used to connect objects of a given
type to get a ‘compound’ object of the same type. Here,
the numbers 1 and 2 are connected to give the new
number 1 + 2.
In English, this is the connector “and”. Cat is a noun,
dog is a noun, cat and dog is a ‘compound’ noun.
Mathematical Sentence

Mathematical sentence is the analogue of an English

sentence; it is a correct arrangement of mathematical
symbols that states a complete thought. It makes sense to as
about the TRUTH of a sentence: Is it true? Is it false? Is it
sometimes true/sometimes false?
Example:
1. The capital of Philippines is Manila.
2. Rizal park is in Cebu.
3. 5+3=8
4. 5+3=9
Expression

An expression is the mathematical

analogue of an English noun; it is a correct
arrangement of mathematical symbols
used to represent a mathematical object
of interest.
An expression does NOT state a
complete thought; in particular, it does not
make sense to ask if an expression is true or
false.
Conventions in mathematics, some
commonly used symbols, its meaning
and an example
Sets
Logic
Basic Operations
Relational Symbols
Set of Numbers
Translating words into symbol
Examples:
Let x be a number. Translate each phrase or sentence into a mathematical expression or equation.
1.Twelve more than a number.
Ans.: 12+x
2.Eight minus a number.
Ans.: 8−x
3.An unknown quantity less fourteen.
Ans.: x−14
4.Six times a number is fifty-four.
Ans.: 6x=54
5. Two ninths of a number is eleven.
Ans.: (2/9)x=11
6. Three more than seven times a number is nine more than five times the number.
Ans.: 3+7x=9+5x
7. Twice a number less eight is equal to one more than three times the number.
Ans.: 2x−8=3x+1 or 2x−8=1+3x