Republic of the Philippines

Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

University of Northern Philippines

WORKSHEET 4
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE AND SYMBOLS
The Nature of Mathematics as a Language

MATHEMATICS IN THE Name of Teacher: HELEN R. SIEMBRE, MAME

School: University of Northern Philippines-Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
MODERN WORLD Quarter 1: Week 6
SELF LEARNING KIT #4

Lesson 2.1: The Nature of Mathematics as a Language

Learning Competencies
The learner will be able to:

• Characteristics of mathematical language

 • The Grammar of mathematics Components of the Language of Mathematics

EXODUS • Some things associated with language are also associated with the Language of
Mathematics. These are the following:
“The laws of nature are written in the language of mathematics.” 1. Discreteness conveys that language consists of minimal units. 2. Grammar
- Galileo Galilei tells that language consists of rules and patterns to arrange units 3. Productivity
shows that language can create totally novel statements that could be
• Language is important to understand and express one’s ideas, feelings or
understood.
opinion. Language serves as the transmitter of information and knowledge. It
4. Displacement reveals that language can convey imaginary, distant, past,
helps to construct social identity. Misunderstanding of one’s language leads to
confusion and misconceptions. present, and future statements.
• Mathematics has its own language. It was designed so we can write about things The Vocabulary of Mathematics
(numbers, sets, functions, etc.) on those things. And just like human languages,
mathematics language consists of structural rules governing the use of symbols • The language of mathematics has an abundant vocabulary of specialist and
representing mathematical objects. technical terms and also uses symbols instead of words which are essential to
the power of modern mathematics.
ELUCIDATION • Some of the symbols commonly used in Mathematics are the following:
• Language is a systematic way of communicating with other people by the use ➢ The 10 digits: 0, 1, , . . . 9
of sounds or conventional symbols. It is a system of words used in a particular ➢ Symbols for operations and sets: +, - , x, ÷, ∩, ∪, …. Etc.
discipline. It is also a system of abstract codes which represent antecedent ➢ Symbols that “stand in” for values: x, y, …
events and concepts and arranged in ordered sequence to form words, with ➢ Special symbols: π, =, <, ≤, …
rules for combining these words into sequences or strings that express ➢ Logic symbols ∧, ∨, ∋,∀ etc.
thoughts, intentions, experiences, and feelings; comprised of phonological, ➢ Set notations: N, Z, R, Q, C, etc.
morphological, syntactical, semantic and pragmatic components (Speech & • Often (but not always) letters are used in a mathematical statement. And these
Language Therapy Glossary of Terms). According to Noam Chomsky, letters have special uses:
language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and Examples What they usually
constructed out of a finite set of elements. mean
Importance of Language
Start of the alphabet: A, b, c, . . . Constants (fixed
• Language was invented to communicate ideas to others (to transmit values)
information), to understand the expressed ideas, to acquire knowledge or
information and to construct social identity. From i to n: I, j, k, l, m, n Positive integers (for
• The Language of Mathematics was designed so we can write about things such counting)
as numbers, sets, functions, etc. and what we do with those things like perform
operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
 End of the alphabet: …x, y, z Variables (unknowns) Difficulties

• The word “is” could mean equality, inequality, or membership in a set. •

Different use of a number (cardinal, ordinal, nominal, ratio)
The Grammar of Mathematics • Mathematical objects may be represented in many ways such as sets and
• The mathematical notation used for formulas has its own grammar, not functions.
dependent on a specific natural language, but shared internationally by • The words “and” and “or” mean differently in mathematics from its English
mathematics regardless of their mother tongues. use.
• This includes the conventions that the formula are written predominantly left to
How Mathematics is a useful Language
right, even when the writing system of the substrate language is right-to left, and
that the Latin alphabet is commonly used for simple variables and parameters. • Because Mathematics is the same all over the world, math can act as a
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_mathematics universal language.
• There are structural rules governing the use of symbols representing • A phrase or formula has the same meaning, regardless of another
mathematical objects. language that accompanies it.
Characteristics of the Mathematics Language • In this way, math helps people learn and communicate, even if other
communication barriers exist. (www.thoughtco.com>why-mathematics-a
• Precise (able to make very fine distinctions or definitions) useful-language. Retrieved on September 11, 2020
• Concise (able to say things briefly)
• Powerful (able to express complex thoughts with relative ease)
The Language of Mathematics
 ❖ The Language of Mathematics was designed so we can write about:
• Things like Numbers, Sets, Functions, etc
• What we do with those things (add, subtract, multiply, divide, join
together etc)
Symbols
❖ Mathematics uses symbols instead of words:
• There are the 10 digits: 0, 1, 2, . . ., 9
• There are symbols for operations: x, -, x, /, . . .
• And symbols that “stand in” for values: x, y . . .
• And many special symbols: π, =, <, ≤
The Four Fundamental Operations
 2. Relations
• A relation is a correspondence between two things or quantities. It is a set of ordered
pairs such that the set of all first coordinates of the ordered pairs is called Domain and the
set of all the second coordinates of the ordered pairs is called Range.
• A relation maybe expressed a statement, arrow diagram, table, equation, set builder
notation and graph.
• Example: R= {(1, 2), (2, 4), (3, 6), (4, 8), (5, 10)}
Types of Relations
1. one - to – one relation
2. one – to – many relation
3. many – to – one relation
An Equivalence Relation has the following properties:
i. Reflexive : ��~��
ii. Symmetric: If ��~�� , then y~��.
iii. Transitive : If ��~�� & y~�� , then ��~��.

Show that R = {(1,1), (1,3), (2,2), (3,1, (1,3)) is an equivalence relation from a set A =
{1, 2, 3}.
Relations in Language of Math
Grammatical rules for the use of symbols

The Four Basic Concepts in Math 1. Sets 🞇 To use < in a sentence, one should precede it by a noun and follow it by a noun.
• Definition of a Set 🞇 Other examples of relations are “equals” and “ is an element of”
• Methods of naming a set 🞇 It is important when specifying a relation to be careful about which
• Properties objects are to be related.
• Relationships between two sets
3. Functions
• Operation on Sets
• A function is a relation such that each element of the domain is paired with
• Venn Diagram
exactly one element of the range. To denote this relationship, we use the
 functional notation: y = f(x)
• where f indicates that a function exists between variables x and y. • The Possible Activity
notation f : A → B is used to denote a function which means that f is a function Video Watching
with domain A and range B; f(x) = y means that f transform x (which must be 🞇 Math isn't hard_ it's a language _ Randy Palisoc _ TEDxManhattanBeach.mp4
an element of A) into y ( which must be an element of B)
Evaluating Functions A variable is any letter used to stand for a mathematical object.
The functional notation y = f(x) allows us to denote specific values of a Operations (Unary or Binary)
function. To evaluate a function is to substitute the specified values of the
independent variable in the formula and simplify. • A Unary operation is an operation on a single element.
Example: negative of 5
Example:
multiplicative inverse of 7
When f(x) = 2x – 3, find f(2)
• A binary operation is an operation that combines two elements of a set to give a
Solution:
single element.
f(2) = 2(2) – 3 = 4 – 3
e.g. multiplication 3 x 4 = 12
f(2) = 1
UPPERCASE VS lowercase
Inverse of a Function
It is also common to use
The inverse of a function is another function that undoes it, and that it undoes.
• Lowercase for variables (like x or y) or counting values ( like m or n) •
For example, the function that takes a number n to n – 5 is the inverse of UPPERCASE for sets (like X or Y) and special constants
the function that takes n to n + 5.
Example: A = {1, 2, 3}
What is the inverse of y = 2x?
• Using an uppercase “A” makes it easy to tell it is a set.
4. Binary Operations • It makes things clearer to read.
• A binary operation on a set A is a function that takes pairs of elements of A Name: ___________________________________________________________
and produces elements of A from them.
• We use the symbol * to denote arbitrary binary operation on a set A. Course/Year/Section: __________________
Four Properties: Score: _______________________________
1. Commutative x* y = y *x Date: ________________________________
2. Associative x* (y*z) = (x*y)* z
3. Identity e*x = x *e Exercise:
4. Inverse x*y = y*x = e A. Using the given variables, translate the following to mathematical
expressions.
 1. The sum of n and 8
______________________________
APPLICATION
2. M reduced by x
______________________________ Construct atleast 10 Mathematical expressions and translate it to English
3. 12 subtracted from z phrases. And vice versa.
______________________________
4. C increased by d
______________________________ REFERENCES:
5. 20 more than twice f
Book
______________________________
6. The square of the sum of x and y Rodriguez, M. et al. (018). Mathematics in the Modern World, Nieme Publishing
______________________________ House Co. LTD, Quezon City
7. Twice the product of m and n
______________________________ Online
8. Six less than twice b The Nature of Mathematics-Duke Mathematics Department
______________________________ https://services.math.duke.edu>node5
9. The sum of the squares of u and v
(www.thoughtco.com>why-mathematics-a-useful-language. Retrieved on September
______________________________
11, 2020
10. The product of x and y divided by 2
______________________________ Powerpoint Presentation
Riboroso, R. (2019). The Mathematical Language and Symbols. Retrieved on
B. Describe the error
September 14, 2020
1. 5 is a subset of N
2. x > 1 and x < 4 is equivalent to x > 1< 4 Taban, J. (2020). Mathematical Language and Symbols. Retrieved on September
3. 0, 1, 2, 3, … are elements of counting numbers 19, 2020
4. 22/7 = 3.14
5. Any number divided by itself is 1.
C. Translate each sentence using math symbols
1. 3 is a real number.
2. The values of n range from -3 to 8.
3. The square root of y is not more than 20.
4. The square root of a number x is 6.
5. The value of z is equal to the product of x and y.