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Concept
Mathematical notation
Summary
Mathematical notation consists of using symbols for representing operations, unspecified numbers, relations, and any other mathematical objects and assembling them into expressions and formulas. Mathematical notation is widely used in mathematics, science, and engineering for representing complex concepts and properties in a concise, unambiguous, and accurate way.
For example, Albert Einstein's equation is the quantitative representation in mathematical notation of the mass–energy equivalence.
Mathematical notation was first introduced by François Viète at the end of the 16th century and largely expanded during the 17th and 18th centuries by René Descartes, Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and overall Leonhard Euler.
Glossary of mathematical symbols
The use of many symbols is the basis of mathematical notation. They play a similar role as words in natural languages. They may play different roles in mathematical notation similarly as verbs, adjective and nouns play different roles in a sentence.
List of letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering
Letters are typically used for naming—in mathematical jargon, one says representing—mathematical objects. This is typically the Latin and Greek alphabets that are used, but some letters of Hebrew alphabet are sometimes used. Uppercase and lowercase letters are considered as different symbols. For Latin alphabet, different typefaces provide also different symbols. For example, and could theoretically appear in the same mathematical text with six different meanings. Normally, roman upright typeface is not used for symbols, except for symbols that are formed of several letters, such as the symbol "" of the sine function.
In order to have more symbols, and for allowing related mathematical objects to be represented by related symbols, diacritics, subscripts and superscripts are often used. For example, may denote the Fourier transform of the derivative of a function called
Symbols are not only used for naming mathematical objects.
Official source
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