MATHEMATICAL

LANGUAGE
AND
SYMBOLS

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Language of Mathematics
Like any language, mathematics has its own symbols,
syntax and rules.

 to understand the expressed ideas

 to communicate ideas to others

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Characteristics
 Precise
- be able to make very fine distinctions
 Concise
- uses symbols briefly
 Powerful
- be able to express complex thoughts with relative ease
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Expression versus Sentences

MATHEMATICS

Expression Sentence
(name given to (must state a complete
mathematical object of thought)
interest

A mathematical sentence is the analogue of an English

sentence; it is a correct assignment of mathematical
symbols that states a complete thought.
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Ideas Regarding Expressions

  Expressions have different names
Example:
5
2+3
102
(6 - 2) + 1
1 + 1+ 1 +1+ 1
 Common in solving expressions is to SIMPLIFY
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What does SIMPLER mean?

Fewer symbols
Fewer operations
Preferred/ style/format
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Truth of a Sentence

The notion of truth (the property of

being true or false) is of fundamental
importance in the mathematical language.
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Ideas regarding Mathematical

sentence
 Mathematical Sentences have verbs and
connectives
 symbIn the mathematical sentence 3+4= 7. The
equal sign is actually the verb and indeed one of the
most popular mathematical verbs.
 The ol “+” in 3 + 4 = 7 is a connective which is used
to connect objects of a given type
 Truth of Sentences
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How to decide whether something

is a Sentence?
 Read it aloud, and ask yourself the question: Does
it state a complete thought? If YES, then it is a
sentence.
 You may also ask yourself the question: Does it
make sense to ask about the truth of it?
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The Grammar of Mathematics

It is the structural rules governing the use of
symbols representing mathematical objects
Express the following using mathematical
symbols
a. 5 is the square root of 25
b. 5 is less than 10
c. 5 is a prime number
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Some difficulties in math

language
 The word "is" could mean equality, inequality or
membership in a set
 Different uses of a number; to express quantity
(cardinal), to indicate the order (ordinal), and as a
label (nominal)
 Mathematical objects may be represented in many
ways, such as sets and functions
 The words "and' & "or" means different from its
English use
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Objects that we use in Math

 Numbers
 Operations
 Variables

FOUR BASIC CONCEPTS:

 Sets (properties, relationships, operations)
 Relations
 Functions
 Logic
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Numbers

Numbers -represent a quantity or

amount.
Classification of Numbers
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The four fundamental operations

Can you think of any more terms that you can add
to the mind map?
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Variable
A variable is any letter used to stand for
a mathematical object.
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The Four
Basic Concepts
in Math
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1. Sets
Definition of a Set
Methods of naming a set
Properties
Relationships between two sets
Operation on Sets
Venn Diagram
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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)}
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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}.
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Relations in Language of Math

Grammatical rules for the use of symbols
 To use < in a sentence, one should precede it by a
noun and follow it by a noun.
 Other examples of relations are “equals” and “ is
an element of”
 It is important when specifying a relation to be
careful about which objects are to be related.
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3. Functions
A function is a relation such that each element of the
domain is paired with 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.
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 
The notation f : is used to denote a function
which means that f is a function with domain A
and range B; f(x) = y means that f transform x
(which must be an element of A) into y ( which
must be an element of B)
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Evaluating Functions
The functional notation y = f(x) allows us to denote
specific values of a function. To evaluate a function is to
substitute the specified values of the independent variable
in the formula and simplify.
Example:
When f(x) = 2x – 3, find f(2)
Solution:
f(2) = 2(2) – 3 = 4 – 3
f(2) = 1
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Inverse of a Function
The inverse of a function is another function that
undoes it, and that it undoes.
For example, the function that takes a number n to n –
5 is the inverse of the function that takes n to n + 5.

What is the inverse of y = 2x?

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4. Binary Operations
A binary operation on a set A is a function that takes
pairs of elements of A and produces elements of A from
them.
We use the symbol * to denote arbitrary binary
operation on a set A.
Four Properties:
1. Commutative x* y = y *x
2. Associative x* (y*z) = (x*y)* z
3. Identity e*x = x *e
4. Inverse x*y = y*x = e
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EXERCISE
A. Describe the error
1. 5 is a subset of N
2. x > 1 and x < 4 is equivalent to x > 1< 4
3. 0, 1, 2, 3, … are elements of counting numbers
4. 22/7 = 3.14
5. Any number divided by itself is 1.
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B. 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.
6. The number of male students (m) is 10 more than the
number of female students (f).