Symbols talk:Symbolic Logic

Is $\sim$ actually "deprecated" as a symbol for "not" or a genuine "alternative" to the $\lnot$ symbol?

My belief is that $\lnot$ is preferred nowadays as its meaning is unequivocal, whereas $\sim$ has all sorts of other uses which could cause confusion, which is why I relegated it to the "deprecated" section.

In different contexts, different symbols are conventionally used, particularly in logic where the language of logicians differs somewhat from that of mathematicians. However, as this is a "mathematics" website and not a "logic" website, my belief is that we should use the mathematicians' symbol in preference to the logicians' ones wherever possible. This explains the decision. --Prime.mover 05:28, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Sidestepping the issue of whether $\sim$ is deprecated or not, it makes more sense to have symbol to use for each operator. In this case, $\lnot$ is unambiguous (personally, I see $\sim$ and think geometric similarity, as belied by the LaTeX name of the symbol, \sim), and hence it probably makes more sense to keep consistent with what we have. That said, if you have some particular current and respected source that you can cite for use of $\sim$, then that would indicate that it isn't deprecated and should be included, so please let us know what that source is. --Cynic (talk) 15:01, 7 May 2009 (UTC)