Universite Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I

UFR Maths-Info
Anglais Scientique 2006-2007
Licence

Reading Mathematical Expressions

(A. Oancea, S. Maillot, C. Mitschi)
Note: Some groups of letters are underlined in order to draw ones attention to their pronunciation.
Basics
a+b
ab
ab
a
, a/b
b
1 1 1
1
, , , ...,
2 3 4
10
5 2
7
, , ...,
2 3
10
a=b
a = b
a<b
ab
a>b
ab

a plus b
a minus b
ab, a times b
a over b, a divided by b
one half, one third, one fourth, ... , one tenth
ve halves, two thirds, ... , seven tenths
a
a
a
a
a
a

equals b, a is equal to b
dierent from b, a not equal to b
(strictly) less than b
less than or equal to b
(strictly) bigger than b, a greater than b
greater than or equal to b

Powers and roots

ab
a to the b,
a to the b-th (power) [if b is a positive integer]
2
x
x squared
x3
x cubed
1
x
x inverse
n
t n-th root of t
t square root of t

3
t cubic root of t
1

Sets

AB
AB
Ac
A\B
AB
xA

(the) empty set

A union B
A intersected with B
the complement of A
A minus B
A times B
x in A, x belongs to A, x belonging to A

Miscellaneous
5%
30
xk
j
x
i n
2
k=1 k
n

2k+1
k=1 2k+2

n!
partie enti`ere de x
|x|
|z|
Re(z), Im(z)

v, w
cos sin tan etc.

R2 , R3 , Rn
(blablabla) (blbl)
blablabla
blbl
x 1 , . . . , xn

ve percent
thirty degrees
xk
x i j [if j is an index, not an exponent!]
sum k equals 1 to n of k 2 ,
sum for k (running) from 1 to n of k 2 ,
summation k from 1 to n of k 2
product k equals 1 to n
of 2k + 1 over 2k + 2
product for k (running) from 1 to n
of 2k + 1 over 2k + 2
n factorial
integer part of x
absolute value of x (if x is a real number)
modulus of z (if z is a complex number)
real part of z, imaginary part of z
norm of x
scalar product of v and w
cosine/cosinus sine/sinus tangent etc.
eta [ta] theta [thta] xi [ksai]
pi [pai] sigma [zgma] chi [kai] psi [sai]
R 2, R 3, R n
blablabla, the whole times blbl
blablabla, the whole divided by blbl
x1 up to xn

Calculus
f

f prime, f dashed
d by dx
df by dx
d x f , partial derivative of f with respect to x

d
dx
df
, f
dx x

f
x b

f (s)ds

a 
,
D

lim f (x)

integral from a to b (of) f (s) ds

double integral, triple integral over the domain D
D

xa

log(x), loga x
exp(x), ex

plus/minus innity
(the) limit of f (x) as x tends/goes to a,
(the) limit of f of x as x tends/goes to a
logarithm of x, logarithm in base a of x
exponential of x, e to the x

Functions
f :U V
f (x)
x  f (x)
of class C k
of class C
the Lebesgue spaces Lp , L
the Sobolev spaces H k , W k,p

f from U to V
f of x
x maps to f (x)
of class C k
of class C innity
the Lebesgue spaces L p, L innity
the Sobolev spaces H k, W k p