Comment by paulgerhardt

3 months ago

I wish there was a Strunk and White for mathematics.

While by no means logically incorrect, it feels inelegant to setup a problem using variables A and B in the first paragraph and solve for X and Y in the second (compounded with the implicit X==B, and Y==A).

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paulgerhardt

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thomasahle  3 months ago

There are lots of good books on writing mathematics:

1. How to Write Mathematics — Paul Halmos

2. Mathematical Writing — Donald Knuth, Tracy Larrabee, and Paul Roberts

3. Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences — Nicholas J. Higham

4. Writing Mathematics Well — Steven Gill Williamson

  • paulgerhardt  3 months ago

    Thanks. Higham explicitly addresses the authors substitution crime in section 2.5. Wonderful resource.

    My complaint stems more to the general observation that readability is prized in math and programming but not emphasized in traditional education curriculum to the degree it is in writing.

    Bad style is seldomly commented on in our profession.