Section 2.

1 Mathematical Language
Lesson 2.1.2 : The Structure of Mathematical Language

This lesson has the following Objectives:

1. The student is able to compare and contrast Mathematical Language and English Language;
2. Examine the conventions employed in Mathematical Language

Recall that in English Language, a noun is a word that is used to identify any of a class of people,
places, or things, or to name a particular one of these. While a sentence refers to a set of words that is
complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate. In this section, we study the counterparts
of these words in mathematical language.

Definition 1. An expression is the mathematical analogue of an English noun; it is a correct arrangement

of mathematical symbols used to represent a mathematical object of interest. An expression does NOT
state a complete thought; in particular, it does not make sense to ask if an expression is true or false.

Definition 2. A mathematical sentence is the analogue of an English sentence; it is a correct arrangement

of mathematical symbols that states a complete thought.

Remark: In a mathematical sentence, it makes sense to ask about the TRUTH of a sentence: Is it true? Is
it false? Is it sometimes true/sometimes false?

Moreover, if English language has noun, verbs, connectives, expressions, sentences and
conventions, mathematical language also has (Burns, 2004). The next table provides a better
understanding of this idea.
English Mathematics

name given to an NOUN (person, place, thing) EXPRESSION

object of interest: Examples: Juan, Butuan City, book Examples: 5 ,
2 + 3 , X+1/2

a complete thought: SENTENCE SENTENCE

Examples:
Examples:
The capital of Caraga is Butuan
3+4=7
City. CSU is in Bayugan City.
y + √3 = 18

Verb is =

Connectives and, or +

More Insights: The following are more examples of how two languages are similar/different from each
other .

Similarities :

Example 2.2.1. Consider the mathematical sentence ‘ 3 + 4 = 7 ’ (read as “Three plus four is egual to
seven”). It is easy to determine that “=” is the verb, in fact the most popular mathematical verb. Other
verbs are the symbols “<” and “>”.

Example 2.2.2 The constants “3”, “4” and “7” are nouns

Example 2.2.3 2x – 5 is an expression

Example 2.2.4 5y – 2 = 12 and √2�� − 3 = �� are sentences which can either be classified as true or
false depending on the values of y and w.

Example 2.2.5 The symbols “∧ (and)”, “∨ (or) “, “⇒ (implies)” are examples of connectives.

Differences

Unlike English, mathematics does not have emotional content, and does not use present, past
and future tenses. Mathematical sentences always use the present form “is”, example, x+2 is equal to 8.

Ordinary speech is full of ambiguities and full of unspoken cultural assumptions, (R.E. Jamison,
2000). Take a look at the examples that follow:

Example 2.2.6 “Look at the dog with one eye” could either mean “Look at the dog using only one of your
eyes.”, or “Look at the dog that has only one eye.”

Example 2.2.7 Carol : Turn left!"

Bob : I didn't hear you. Left?"
Carol : Right!"

Example 2.2.8 Unpredictable pattern.

Woman -plural form is “women”
Man – plural form is “men”
Pan – plural form is not “pen” but “pans”

On the other hand, Mathematics it expresses itself with utmost clarity and unambiguity. This
feature distinguishes it from all other languages. The following illustrates this statement.

Example 2.2.9 For example in the sentence 2x+4 = 6, then only x=1 could make the sentence true and
all Other values of x will make it false.

Example 2.2.9 When dealing with sequences in mathematics, one can clearly and definitely predict the
succeeding entries as patterns in mathematics are unambiguous, say
1,3,5,_,_,… , one can certainly tell that the next number in the sequence is 7 , and
1,4,9,16, … , the next entry is 25

Conventions
Languages have conventions. In English language, words may have many synonyms, say enemy,
adversary, foe, opponent, etc. It is conventional to capitalize proper names (like ‘Carol’ and ‘Christmas’).
This convention makes it easy for a reader to distinguish between a common noun (like ‘carol’, a
Christmas song) and a proper noun (like ‘Carol’). Another convention is to start a sentence with
uppercase letters and separate enumerated words with a comma, indent first sentence in a paragraph.
Mathematics also has its own conventions. The following are a few of them:

Example 2.2.10 Numbers may have lots of different names: 5, 2+3, 10÷2, (6-2)+1.

Example 2.2.10 Uppercase letters A, B or C, etc are usually used to denote a set and lowercase letters to
refer to the elements of a set, say a,b, or c, etc.

Example 2.2.10 Mathematical sentences use symbols instead of their counterpart words, e.g. ∀ (for all),
∃ (there exists), → (implies), etc.

Table below gives the summary of conventions that Mathematical Language possess.

English Conventions Mathematics Conventions

Capitalize first letter of proper Defines words and phrases (to avoid ambiguity)
nouns

Indent first sentence of Enclose the elements of a set with { }

paragraphs

Separate enumerated words Use mathematical symbols instead of their

with comma counterpart words, e.g. ∀ (for all), ∃ (there exists),
→ (implies), etc

Expressions are given in simplest term

n is non-negative integer

Uses past, present and future All is in present form

tense

Absence of emotional content

Full of ambiguities, unspoken Precise

cultural assumptions:
 Example:

Have the students continue the

enumeration…

Lastly, again I would like to leave you with this quote:

Mathematics cannot be learned without

being understood ó it is not a matter of
formulas being committed to memory but
of acquiring a capacity for systematic
thought.
ó Peter Hilton [3]