Help:Page Naming
Introduction
Choosing a good page title is important for multiple reasons:
- It makes the page easier to search for.
- The title gives a first impression of what the page is about. A good title adds to the understanding.
- The title is what is used in links. It's always nice to know what a page is about before clicking the link.
- A descriptive title avoids name conflicts.
Some pages are subject to specific naming conventions. See the corresponding help pages for instructions:
Page titles that do not meet the standards can be flagged for renaming.
Tips to choose a good name
Be specific
There's no such thing as being too specific!
In particular, page names consisting of a single word should generally be avoided: you never know if there are other concepts in mathematics with the same name.
That is:
- not Definition:Prime Ideal but Definition:Prime Ideal of Ring
- not Definition:Supremum or Definition:Supremum of Set but Definition:Supremum of Subset of Real Numbers
The word "of" comes in handy here.
In the same spirit, it is a good practice to always include at least one noun in the title.
That is:
- not Definition:Differentiable but Definition:Differentiable Mapping
- not Definition:Simple but Definition:Simple Group
Note how the shorter page names are always disambiguation pages.
For theorems, the same philosophy applies:
Redundant words
Page names should not be started with articles such as "A" or "The", as this makes it significantly harder to find pages alphabetically in their categories.
For example: Pythagorean Theorem, not The Pythagorean Theorem.
Similarly, is not necessary to begin the name with "Proof of ...", and this should be avoided.
Since $\mathsf{Pr} \infty \mathsf{fWiki}$ is a collection of proofs, it is assumed that each page is going to be a proof of something.
This also makes searching for articles much easier.
In general, the words "the", "a" or "an" are strongly discouraged in page names, as they make the name longer than necessary and rarely add clarity to the concept being defined.
The main exception to this rule is for concepts split into subtypes named along the lines "of the $n$th kind", for example: Definition:Elliptic Integral of the First Kind.
Descriptiveness
A good page title describes the content accurately.
Because theorems are linked to using their exact page title, when reading a proof it is useful when you can guess what a theorem is about without having to visit the page.
In particular, if a theorem contains an equivalence proof, the title should makes this clear, by using "iff".
Don't blindly trust literature
Books, thanks to their limited scope, can afford to use simplified terminology without running into ambiguity problems.
At $\mathsf{Pr} \infty \mathsf{fWiki}$ we cannot.
Thus it is a good idea to check if there is a danger for name conflicts by doing some research.
Alternatively, make the name overly specific.
As for theorems, books may call a theorem "Fundamental Property of Homomorphisms" or "Continuity Property".
This does not mean that the theorem is everywhere known by that name.
While at $\mathsf{Pr} \infty \mathsf{fWiki}$ we do prefer to use as a title the name of a theorem rather than a description of the result, we do so only if there is no ambiguity.
Naming conventions
Namespaces
When you would like to create a page for a definition, all you have to do different from naming a proof is to add Definition: in front of the name.
So for example if you wanted to create a page for the definition of calculus you would name the page:
Definition:Calculus
Also, after you create the page, be sure to add the definition to the appropriate "Definitions" categories (see Category:Definitions).
The same method that is used for Definitions is also used to name and categorize axiom and symbols pages.
Simply substitute Symbol or Axiom for Definition: in the page name and, mutatis mutandis, in the category name.
See Help:Categories.
Capitalizing
Page titles are case-sensitive.
For all types of pages, major words in the title of the page should be capitalized.
For example:
So as to promote consistency, be informed that in particular, the following words are not considered to be "major" and ought to be used in their lowercase form when naming a page:
- Prepositions, pronouns and conjunctions:
- and, around, as, between, by, for, from, if, iff, in, its, minus, no, not, of, on, or, over, plus, such that, that, the, then, to, under, with, with respect to, which, whose
- Short verbs, such as:
- are, can, cannot, does, equals, form, has, have, implies, is
These lists are not exhaustive.
Variables in formulas tend not to be capitalized.
See Names with Formulas.
Names with Formulas
If the name of a page contains mathematical statements, the following formatting practices should be adhered to:
- Put no spaces between numbers/elements that are added, subtracted, divided, or multiplied together.
- Example:
(1+2)x3
- Example:
- Do, however, put spaces between elements that are put into equality or inequality with one another. Use
!=to signify inequality.- Example:
1 = 3/3 != 3/4
- Example:
- Variables appearing in the formulas need not be capitalized.
- Example:
Primitive of x squared over a x + b
- Example:
- A page name is no place for $\LaTeX$ commands.
Things named after a mathematician
A theorem that is named after a Mathematician gets a call of the {{Namedfor}} template.
When done properly, the page is then automatically placed in a corresponding category in Named Theorems, which itself has to be created manually.
Similarly, for named definitions there is the {{NamedforDef}} template.
Disambiguation pages are treated in the same way.
Note that theorem disambiguations do not otherwise get categories.
See Help:Disambiguation.
A page whose name contains a word named after a Mathematician does not fall under this category.
For example, not every theorem about Krull dimension needs a call of {{Namedfor}}.
Multiple Names
Some mathematical concepts have several names, according to the sources you consult.
Which of these names is used in $\mathsf{Pr} \infty \mathsf{fWiki}$ is largely a matter of happenstance.
However, if one of the names of a concept is for a particular mathematician, that name is in general to be used in preference, unless that usage is obscure.
An example of this is Definition:Chebyshev Distance, which is otherwise known as the Definition:Maximum Metric or the Definition:Chessboard Metric.
An example where we do not do this is for Definition:Spherical Triangle: although this is also known as an Definition:Euler Triangle, we use the former in preference.
See also Help:Also known as.
Special Characters
Disallowed Characters
The following characters should not be used in page names:
# < > [ ] | { } * & $ @
Accented Characters
A theorem named after someone gets this exact name, including accented characters.
For search convenience, a redirect can be set up.
See Help:Redirects#Accented characters