Somewhere in your first year the writing changed. School mathematics was words with the occasional symbol. University mathematics is symbols with the occasional word, and at no point did anyone stop and say what the symbols mean, how you say them out loud, or which ones are traps.
Free · 126 pages (A4) · 169 pages (6 × 9) · DRM-free PDF
This is the book nobody wrote for you. Every symbol you will meet from first year through early graduate work, with four things for each: the glyph, how to say it aloud, what it means, and what it does not mean.
That last field is the point. Most notation trouble is not ignorance, it is a near-miss. Reading the implication arrow as “causes”. Assuming the subset sign is strict. Taking log to be base 10 in a paper where it is base 2. Knowing roughly what a symbol means is what gets you into trouble, because it is enough to keep reading and not enough to be right.
Why quantifier order is the difference between a theorem and a falsehood
The grammar of an expression: precedence, scope, and what binds what
Ten chapters of symbol entries, from logic to tensors to statistics
Two collision tables, by symbol and by field, plus a working index
Look-up by shape, for when you cannot name what you are staring at
A read-aloud card, because you cannot hold what you cannot pronounce
The downloadable editions include the complete chapters and toolkit listed below.
Both layouts are free to download from this page. Use the 6 × 9 edition when you want the paperback reading experience or a compact printout. Use the A4 edition for a larger screen page and easier home or office printing.
PDF · 126 pages · 411 KB
A larger page for reading on screen, and the easier one to print at home or in an office.
Download this editionPDF · 169 pages · 434 KB
The paperback proportions, best when you want a compact printout or the book reading experience.
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Both editions are free and contain the same complete book. Pick the layout that matches how you read.
