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Questions tagged [mathematical-writing]

For questions about writing mathematical texts, e.g. questions of style, mathematical prose, structuring of mathematical exposition, referencing prior work etc.

This tag is for questions about writing mathematical texts (such as research papers, proposals or textbooks), e.g. questions of style and formatting, the phrasing and grammar of mathematical prose, relationships between text and equations or diagrams in mathematical writings, different manners of structuring of mathematical exposition, how to cite or otherwise reference prior published or unpublished work, etc. For questions specifically related to publishing mathematical writings, cf. also the tag/

175 questions
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Examples of Mathematical Papers that Contain a Kind of Research Report

What are examples of well received mathematical papers in which the author provides detail on how a surprising solution to a problem has been found. I am especially looking for papers that also document the dead ends of investigation, i.e. ideas…
Manfred Weis
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Mathematical Writing: Proof Outlines/Overview in a Paper

While my question topic is that of mathematical writing of papers, which is a broad subject, the particular question is specific. I am writing a paper, in which we have a section called "Outline of Proof". (It's Section 2.) The outline is fairly…
Sam OT
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Reproving a known theorem in an article

Suppose one wants to use a theorem that was published quite a long time ago (+80 years) in a paper that is using a terminology and notations that are very much out-dated (making the paper very hard to read). Is it okay if we want to reformulate the…
LCO
  • 496
19
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8 answers

Beginning a sentence with a mathematical symbol

This is more of a mathematician question than a mathematics question, but I hope it is still appropriate. Several times now, when friends have been editing my mathematical writing, they have pointed out instances where I began a sentence with a…
Greg Muller
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7 answers

How to distribute the source of programs used in a paper?

I have written a paper, which includes an appendix discussing how to obtain numerical evidence for the result of the paper. Now the computation essentially works as follows: Create a large tridiagonal matrix. Compute its eigenvalues. Compute the…
Helge
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15
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2 answers

the use of parentheses to mean "I won't tell you this again"

A reader of one of my drafts found fault with my use of parentheses; I put the word "bounded" in parentheses in a statement of a certain theorem, and he replied "But the statement isn't true if the assumption of boundedness is dropped!" That reader…
James Propp
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11
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1 answer

Quoting mathreviews

I would like to credit a reviewer who made a very nice corollary to the paper he was reviewing. Is there any more or less common standard of quoting MathReviews? I would be most grateful for an example of how to do it.
Mailer
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Tags for theorems, definitions, examples, etc. in monographs

I write many telegraphic reviews of monographs and textbooks. Occasionally I see certain books do something I think should become an industry standard, namely tagging nearly every theorem, lemma, definition, example, exercise, etc. with some…
David Feldman
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9
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1 answer

Style guide for referring to past work

Has anyone written or expressed a coherent position on how to refer to mathematical results (theorems, proofs) by past authors? Even if there are no hard and fast rules, I find it helpful to have a guide that I can follow in order to speed things…
D.R.
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Capitalization of named theorems

I would like to extend a previous question on the capitalization of theorem names . This time, it's not about numbered theorems like "Lemma 1.1", but about theorems that carry a name. Question: Which of the following variants is to be…
Greg Graviton
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"Let" versus "for all"

I have noticed that many authors tend to use "let" instead of "for all". For example, they write something like this: Let $n$ be an even natural number. Then also $n^2$ is even. I wonder, why they use "let" instead of "for all", also in cases…
wejtjqwie
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Can I use both of setbuilder notations in one article?

I am sorry if this question is not for mathoverflow. I asked the same question in tex stackexchange and got an answer that this question is out of topic. If it's the same here, please let me know. There are two setbuilder notations, the vertical bar…
Hwang
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4
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3 answers

Typographically separating logical argument from explanation and example

I am currently writing a master's dissertation. In this dissertation I have chosen to typographically separate logical argument, (Theorems, Proofs, and Definitions) from aids to understanding (Examples, Remarks and Asides). Basically, sections that…
user20886
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Comma usage when defining symbols

Consider the following sentence that introduces a symbol, $f$, used later in the text (not shown): A classifier is a function $f$, which takes an image as input and produces a label as output. Should there be a comma before $f$? That is, should it…
PThomasCS
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Style question --- approximate exponential bound

This is a question about recommended style for a paper. I am able to show an upper bound of the form $f(n) = O(c^n)$. While I have a formula satisfied by $c$, it is a messy formula and I cannot solve it in closed form. I can easily solve this…
David Harris
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