SOUTHWAY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

(SOCOTECH)
San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines
Telefax: (085) 839-4476/1170
www.socotech.edu.ph

DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY
GENERAL EDUCATION AREA

Course Code : GE4 / GEN-MMW

Course Title : MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN WORLD

Class Schedule : 21314, 22252, 22306, 22243, 22261, 22406
Room No. : N/A
Professor : Ms. RIZZA E. ACDAL
E-mail Address : rizza.acdal@deped.gov.ph
Consultation Hours :

MODULE 2
MATHEMATICS AS A LANGUAGE

LESSON NO. 1

LESSON TITLE The Language of Mathematics

DURATION/HOURS 3 hours
Specific Learning During the learning engagements, the students are expected to:
Outcomes: 1. classify the characteristics of mathematical language;
2. differentiate expressions from sentences;
3. identify conventions in the mathematical language;
4. define sets and relations; and
5. perform operations on mathematical expressions correctly.
Introduction
Comprehending a message is better understood once a person understand how things are
said and may know why it is said. The use of language in mathematics is far from ordinary
speech. It can be learned but needs a lot of efforts like learning a new dialect or language. The
following are the characteristics of the language of mathematics: precise, concise, and powerful.

Activity (Collaboration)
Direction: Discuss the characteristics of the language of mathematics and give an example to
supplement your explanation.

1. The Language of Mathematics is Precise.

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Example:_________________________________________________________
 2. The Language of Mathematics is Concise.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Example:_________________________________________________________

3. The Language of Mathematics is Powerful.

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Example:_________________________________________________________

CHARACTERISTICS OF A MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE

The first characteristic of a mathematical language is being precise. Precision in
mathematics is like a culture of being correct all the time. Definition and limits should be
distinction. Mathematical ideas is being developed informally and being done more formally,
with necessary and sufficient conditions stated up front and restricting the discussion to a
particular class of objects. Mathematical culture of precision has developed a precise, highly
symbolic language, and a dialect manner that allows for the adaptation, adjustment and
cumulative refinement of concepts based on experiences, and mathematical reasoning is
expected to be correct.
The second characteristic of a mathematical language is being concise or shows
simplicity. Being concise is a strong part of the culture in mathematical language. The
mathematician desires the simplest possible single exposition at the price of additional
terminology and machinery to allow all of the various particularities to be subsumed into the
exposition at the highest possible level.
The third characteristics of a mathematical language is being powerful. It is a way of
expressing complex thoughts with relative ease. The abstraction in mathematics is the desire to
unify diverse instances under a single conceptual framework and allows easier penetration of the
subject and the development of more powerful methods.
According to Galileo Galilei, “Mathematics is the language in which God has written the
universe”. It can be attributed that mathematics is a universal language because the principles
and foundations of mathematics are the same everywhere around the world.

EXPRESSIONS VERSUS SENTENCES

You learned in your English subject that expressions do not taste a complete thought,
but sentences do. Mathematical sentences state a complete thought. On the other hand,
mathematical expressions do not. You cannot test if it is true or false.

Analysis
Direction: Classify each given equation as a mathematical expression (E) or a mathematical
sentence (S)

1. a+9 ______________________________________
2. b+0=b ______________________________________
3. t/100 ______________________________________
4. 3.1416 ______________________________________
5. x+y=y+x ______________________________________
 CONVENTIONS IN THE MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE

The common symbol used for multiplication is x but it can be mistakenly taken as
the variable x. There are instances when the centered dot (·) is a shorthand to be used for
multiplication especially when variables are involved. If there will be no confusion, the
symbol may be dropped.
8 · y = 8y
a· b · c = abc
t · s · 9 = 9st
It is conventional to write the number first before the letters. If in case the letters are
more than one, you have to arrange the letters alphabetically.
Sets are usually represented by uppercase letters like S. The symbols ℝ and ℕ
represent the set of real numbers and the set of natural numbers, respectively. A lowercase
letter near the end of the alphabet like x, y or z represents an element of the set of real
numbers. A lowercase letter near the middle of the alphabet particularly from i to n may
represent an element of the set of integers.

Abstraction (Critical Thinking)

Direction: For each of the following expressions, write each in the most conventional way.

SETS, FUNCTIONS, RELATIONS, AND BINARY OPERATIONS

SETS
As discussed previously, uppercase letters represent sets. For example, the set of integers
is represented by the symbol ℤ. A set is a collection of any object. It is a mathematical expression
in which a name is given to some collection of objects. Elements or members refer to the objects
in a set. If the numbers of elements in a set can be enumerated, then it is called a finite set.
Otherwise, infinite set. A set that has no members is called the empty set which is denoted using
{ } or Ø.
List method is a way of describing the set in which the members are separated by commas
and enclosed in braces like set S = {4, 8, 12}. The set has 3 elements which are 4, 8, and 12.
Below are some symbols used to represent the relationship of an element to a set.

To say that 4 is an element of set S, it is represented as 4 є S. If the members of the set are
infinite or cannot be easily described using the list method, then the set-builder notation can be
used.
Let us go back to our given set S. The sets {4}, {8}, {12}, {4,8}, {4, 12}, {8, 12},
{4, 8, 12}, and { } are called subsets of the given set S. A set is a subset of a given set if any one
of the following three conditions holds: it is the given set, it is the empty set, or each member of
the set is also an element of the given set.

FUNCTIONS AND RELATIONS

You learned-in your General Mathematics class the difference between a function and a
relation. A relation is a set of ordered pairs. element A function is a relation in which the element
of the first set (domain) corresponds to only one element of the second set (range). A function
may also be many to one correspondence.

Application (Creativity)
Direction: Below are examples of a function. Each item is labeled as a function or mere relation.
Represent each item correctly depending on the labels by either drawing arrows or writing
ordered pairs.

For numbers 4 to 6, use the same set of letters and set of numbers from the previous items.

BINARY OPERATIONS
A unary operation is for a single number and assigns another number to it. Addition (+),
subtraction (-), multiplication (x), and division (+) are examples Of binary operations. The
word "binary" means composition of two pieces. A binary operation refers to joining two
values to create a new one.
Study the following properties of addition and multiplication, as binary operations, on
the set of real numbers.