Mathematics and Natural Sciences Department

Mr. Christian Paul S. Estrella

Course Instructor
 Objectives
✓ Explain the nature of mathematics as a language
✓ Differentiate Mathematical Expressions to Mathematical
Sentences
✓ Classify the truth value of Mathematical Sentence
✓ Recall some of the most common conventions of
Mathematical Language
 What is Mathematical Language?

• System used to communicate mathematical ideas

• Consists of some natural language using:
▪ Technical terms (mathematical terms)
▪ Grammatical Conventions
• Supplemented by highly specialized symbolic notations
(mathematical formulas)
Characteristics of Mathematical Language

• Non-temporal
• Carries no emotional content
• Precise
• Concise
• Powerful
 Introduction

Mathematics is a language just like the English

language which has the following:

• A name given to an object of interest

• A complete thought
 Comparison

English Mathematics

Noun Expression
Name given to an
object of interest
e.g. Carol, Quezon, book e.g. 5, 2+3, 3/2
Sentence Sentence
A complete thought
e.g. SLSU is in Quezon (P) 3+4 =7
SLSU is in Mindoro 3 + 4 = 34
 Mathematical Expression
✓ Has an incomplete thought
✓ Does not show equality or inequality
✓ Combination of numbers and variables with different
operations and must be well-formed
✓ Cannot be identified as either true or false
 Mathematical Expression

Numbers 11 – 5, ¾, 2 + (15 – 6)

Sets { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, …}, {a, e, i, o, u}, {}

Ordered Pairs (x, y), (1, 2), (-12, 6)

Functions f (x)

Algebraic Expressions 3x – 6, 8y, 12x, 5(x + y), b + 4

 Mathematical Sentence
✓ Has a complete thought
✓ Consist of mathematical expression connected using
equality or inequality
✓ The equality (or inequality) serve as “verb”
✓ Can be identified as always true, always false or
indeterminate (sometimes true, sometimes false)
Mathematical Sentence
𝟒 + 𝟏 + 𝟔 = 𝟏𝟏

𝒙– 𝒚 + 𝟐 = 𝟐 + 𝒙– 𝒚

𝟒 + −𝟔 ≤ −𝟕

√𝟏𝟒𝟒 < 𝟖

𝒙 + 𝟏𝟎 = 𝟏𝟓
Examples
𝟒 + 𝟏 + 𝟔 = 𝟏𝟏 𝑨𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒆
𝒙– 𝒚 + 𝟐 = 𝟐 + 𝒙– 𝒚 𝑨𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒆
𝟒 + −𝟔 ≤ −𝟕 𝑨𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆
𝟏𝟒𝟒 < 𝟖 𝑨𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆
𝒙 + 𝟏𝟎 = 𝟏𝟓 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒆, 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆
 Mathematical Conventions
• Fact
• Name
• Notation
• Usage

Agreed upon by mathematicians

 Some Example of Mathematical
Conventions
PEMDAS
Mathematical name and symbols (Golden ratio, pi, etc)
Way of writing of Formula from left to right
Mathematical expression
= (equal) < (less-than) > (greater-than)
+ (addition) – (subtraction) × (multiplication)
 (division) ∈ (element) ↔ (if and only if)
References
• https://www.onemathematicalcat.org/algebra_book/online_problems/exp_vs_sen.htm#:~:text
=An%20expression%20is%20the%20mathematical,a%20mathematical%20object%20of%20i
nterest.&text=A%20mathematical%20sentence%20is%20the,that%20states%20a%20complet
e%20thought
• https://math.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/PreAlgebra/Book%3A_Prealgebra_(Arnold)/03%3A_
The_Fundamentals_of_Algebra/3.01%3A_Mathematical_Expressions#:~:text=Definition%3A%2
0Mathematical%20Expression,is%20called%20a%20mathematical%20expression
• https://www.splashlearn.com/math-vocabulary/number-sense/expression

• Mathematics in the Modern World by Winston S. Sirug, Ph.D.