User talk:Biolex2
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Mathematical notation issues
[edit]Hello. Please notice this difference:
- n*(n-1)
- n(n − 1)
In non-TeX mathematical notation, variables should be italicized by digits and punctuation should not. A minus sign rather than a stubby littly hyphen should be used and should be preceded and followed by a space (and similarly with "+", "=", etc. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics). I usually make the spaces non-breakable with binary operators like "+", "×", etc.
I regard the use of an asterisk for ordinary multiplication as something to be done only when the available character set is severely limited, as on an old-fashioned typewriter. You can write:
- nm
- n·m or n · m
- n×m (not to be confused with nxm) or n × m