Help:Editing/House Style/Mathematical Symbols


 * This page is about stylistic remarks on mathematical formulas. For technical instructions for using $\LaTeX$, see Help:LaTeX Editing

Symbol Set
The only symbols that are accepted in $\LaTeX$ source code are the standard alphanumeric and punctuation characters that can be found on a standard English-language keyboard. Letters with diacritical marks such as "á" should not be used.

If non-English characters are needed within $\LaTeX$ source code (the obvious instance being Greek), then the full $\LaTeX$ definition is to be used.

For example: $\alpha$ is to be rendered by the code.

The same applies to specialised mathematical symbols. While it is appreciated that some contributors may have favourite techniques to allow them to place various mathematical symbols directly into the wiki text, such techniques are not portable and cause rendering issues in some browsers.

The only exceptions to this rule are:
 * when reporting the name of a mathematician, for example:
 * when explaining the linguistic derivation of a term in, for example, a Language Note section. It is standard, for example, to use Greek characters directly here, rather than their $\LaTeX$ codes.

Inline Equations
Inline equations (that is, those that appear as part of a text sentence) merely need the dollar delimiters. For example:


 * The semilinear wave equation $\partial_t U = A U + B \paren U$ is Hamiltonian.

is produced by the input:


 * The semilinear wave equation  is Hamiltonian.

Displayed Equations
Displayed equations should be indented using a single colon, for example, a displayed equation should look like:


 * $\displaystyle H \paren U = \int_0^{2 \pi} \frac {\paren {\partial_x u}^2} 2 + \frac {v^2} 2 - F \paren u \rd x$

which you can enter as:



Using a format that places the equation on the center of the page:


 * $$E = m c^2$$

is discouraged, because with our "short sentence" house style, this breaks up the reading flow.

Big Operators
The  command should be used at the front of expressions using the 'big operators' such as   and , whether the equation is displayed or inline.

This includes (but may not be exclusive to) the commands,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,   and.

For example:


 * $\sum_{i \mathop = 1}^n$
 * $\prod_{i \mathop = 1}^n$
 * $\frac {-b \pm \sqrt {b^2 - 4ac} } {2 a}$
 * $\lim_{n \to \infty} \frac 1 n$

all look better as:


 * $\displaystyle \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^n$
 * $\displaystyle \prod_{i \mathop = 1}^n$
 * $\displaystyle \frac {-b \pm \sqrt {b^2 - 4ac} } {2 a}$
 * $\displaystyle \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac 1 n$

and are produced by, respectively:



Furthermore, to improve aesthetic appeal certain characters, such as $=$ and $\in$, when used in subscripts of big operators, must be endowed with the  command to enforce appropriate spacing.

As a contrast, compare:


 * $\displaystyle \sum_{i = 1}^n \quad \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^n$
 * $\displaystyle \bigcap_{n \in \N} \quad \bigcap_{n \mathop \in \N}$

The  command is to be used in the following manner (the code produces $\displaystyle \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^n$):

\displaystyle \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^n

Abbreviated Symbols
Certain symbols have abbreviated forms for their big versions:


 * can be used instead of
 * can be used instead of

where  is for.

Of course, if other big operators are used in the same equation, the  command is needed anyway However, it does no harm to include   and   inside a line defined as , and may make refactoring easier. So feel free to develop the habit of using  and   throughout.

The d of Calculus
When writing calculus operators, use a non-italic form for the $\rd$. To achieve this, write it as  or   (the latter includes a half-space before it, for use in integrals).

So you would have:


 * $\dfrac {\d y} {\d x}$

which would be produced by:



rather than:


 * $\dfrac {d y} {d x}$

which would be produced by:



Fonts
We have several fonts available, many of which have particular conventional uses in mathematics.

Examples are:
 * Calligraphy:, which produces $\mathcal{ABCDE} ..., \mathcal {1234567890}$ (uppercase only, but also digits)
 * Blackboard:  or (preferably) , which produces $\Bbb{ABCDE} ...$ (uppercase only, no digits)
 * Script:, which produces $\mathscr{ABCDE} ...$ (uppercase only, no digits)
 * Sans serif:, which produces $\mathsf{ABCDE} ... \mathsf{abcde} ..., \mathsf {1234567890}$
 * Fraktur:, which produces $\mathfrak{ABCDE} ... \mathfrak{abcde} ..., \mathfrak {1234567890}$
 * Fixed Width:, which produces $\mathtt{ABCDE} ... \mathtt{abcde} ..., \mathtt {1234567890}$

The use of Fraktur and Script are discouraged, as they are not so easy on the eye and can be difficult to decipher on certain browsers.

Also note that $\N, \Z, \Q, \R, \C$ have their own $\LaTeX$ codes:.

Punctuation niceties
A sentence broken by a displayed equation should be ended with a colon:


 * $\dfrac {\text{display}} {\text{equation}}$

for a better presentation.

On the other hand, the displayed equation itself should not be ended with a full stop or comma.

That is, one should write:


 * $\displaystyle \bigcap_{S \mathop \in \Bbb S} \Bbb U \setminus S = \Bbb U \setminus \bigcup_{S \mathop \in \Bbb S} S$

and not:


 * $\displaystyle \bigcap_{S \mathop \in \Bbb S} \Bbb U \setminus S = \Bbb U \setminus \bigcup_{S \mathop \in \Bbb S} S$.

In particular, including the full stop inside the $\LaTeX$ it terminates is definitely incorrect, for readily apparent reasons. So please do not do this:


 * $\displaystyle \bigcap_{S \mathop \in \Bbb S} \Bbb U \setminus S = \Bbb U \setminus \bigcup_{S \mathop \in \Bbb S} S.$

This is a style tip borrowed from.

Use of commas is discouraged. This sort of structure is considered incorrect:


 * Let $x$ be as follows,


 * $x \in S$

as commas are reserved in mathematics for separation of elements of a list.

Q.E.D.
To end a proof, the template  should be used, which looks like:

or if you wish to break your page up into subproofs, end those subproofs with, which looks like:

In a dash for consistent notation, it is understood that these templates should immediately succeed the last line of the proof, that is:

Hence the result.

and not:

Hence the result.

Tempting though it is to write "Q.E.D." at the bottom, this is so uncool as to be positively naff.

Also see

 * Help:LaTeX Editing