LESSON 1: LANGUAGE OF
MATHEMATICS
CHARACTERISTICS OF MATHEMATICS
LANGUAGE
So how does the language of mathematics
work? Is it similar to how the English
language works?
As you may have observed, mathematics
uses a wide variety of symbols.
Furthermore, it always talks about facts
which are stated as definitions, theorems,
axioms, postulates, etc. Mathematicians
conform to these because these are the
nature of the mathematical language. To
better understand why this is done so, Dr.
Fisher in her book entitled “One
Mathematical Cat, Please!” presented us
the following three characteristics of the
mathematical language.
Precise able to make very fine
distinctions This characteristic is
particularly exercised when
mathematicians define a term. This is
done so in a precise way that only what is
necessary is included in the definition.
This way no confusions will arise. For
instance, one can distinguish a triangle
from a square.
Concise able to say things briefly Instead
of always saying a number larger than 5,
mathematics tells us that we can write the
text as x + 5 by making x represent any
number. The conciseness of the
mathematical language can be seen in its
wide usage of symbols.
Powerful able to express complex
thoughts with relative ease This is
particularly seen in advance mathematics
where mathematical arguments are
always expressed in its equivalent
symbolic form for the purpose of proving
statements. This is done when
mathematicians are at their most formal .
However, we can also see how this
characteristic is used when we look into
definitions, theorems, axioms, etc.
EXPRESSION VS SENTENCES
The equivalent of a noun in the
Mathematical language is an expression.
Just like a noun, an expression is the
mathematical object of interest. It does
not state a complete thought, so it does
not make sense to ask if an expression is
true or false. The most common types of
an expression are numbers, sets, and
functions. Similarly, we also have
sentences in the mathematical context. A
mathematical sentence is a correct
arrangement of mathematical symbols
that states a complete thought. As a
sentence, it contains an expression and a
verb. For instance, in the mathematical
sentence
6−2=4,
we have the expressions 6 − 2 and 4, and
the verb which is the equal sign “=”. A
verb can also be any of the inequality
symbols <, >, ≤ and ≥. Since a
mathematical sentence states a complete
thought, it makes sense to ask whether it
is true, false, or sometimes
true/sometimes false. For example,
LESSON 2: CONVENTIONS OF
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE
If we want to be fluent in speaking and
writing in a foreign language, we can not
just do it by learning the necessary words,
phrases, and sentences, it is also essential
that we know the basic grammar. Because
Mathematics is taught since elementary,
we have the basic knowledge and ability
to speak mathematically. However,
contrary to what we are used to, advance
mathematics have a complicated structure
that in order to understand it, we need to
1
be familiar with the basic terms of the one can easily distinguish whether an
mathematical grammar. In this lesson, we object belongs to a set or not.
will focus on translating phrases and
sentences into their symbolic form. Let’s consider the following examples.

Let us first consider the following Example 2.1 Is the collection of delicious
sentences. foods well-defined? Is the collection a
set?

Answer: This collection is not a set

because it is unclear which foods can be
considered delicious or not. Is balut in this
collection? Some might say yes, but some
might say no.

Observe that all of the given statements
use the word “is”. But if we translate each
sentences into their symbolic form, we
find that the word “is” can be replaced
into different symbols.
Example 2.2 Is the collection of letters in
the word ‘Mathematics’ well-defined? Is
the collection a set?
Answer: Here it is clear that the objects in
the given collection are the letters m, a, t,
h, e, i, c, and s. Is b in this collection?
Definitely not. So in this collection, we can
easily identify which objects belong to the
collection or not. Hence, it is well-defined,
and thus, a set.

How about sentence (3)? How do we write Recall that we use the symbol Є to
it into symbols? For sentence (3), we do indicate set members and
not have a universally recognized system
to write it in its symbolic form. But one
way to do it is by rephrasing it without
hiding the word “is” is to use the language
of sets.

SETS

A group or a collection of objects is called

a set. George Cantor defined a set as
follows.

The given definition tells us that not just

any collection can qualify as a set, it has
to be well-defined. What does this mean?

A set is formed by collecting objects based

on a rule. This rule must be precise so