Chapter 2

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Chapter 2
LANGUAGE – the system of words, signs and symbols which people use to
express ideas, thoughts and feelings
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE – the system used to communicate mathematical ideas
 Apt language (Automatically programmed tools) is the key to making mathematics
comprehensible and understandable
Kenney, Hancewicz, Heuer, Metsisto and Tuttle (2005)

 Modelling and Formulating – creating appropriate representations and relationships to
mathematize the original problem
 Transforming and Manipulating - changing the mathematical form in which a problem
is originally expressed to equivalent form that represents solution
 Inferring – applying derived results to the original problem situation and interpreting and
generalizing the result
 Communicating – reporting what has been learned about a problem to a specified
audience
Jamison (2000) – the use of language in mathematics differs from the language of ordinary
speech in three important ways.
 First, mathematical language is non-temporal
 Second, mathematical language is devoid of emotional content
 Third, mathematical language is precise
MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSIONS AND SENTENCES
Operational Terms and Symbols
Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division

+ - X, (), * ÷, /
Plus Minus Multiplied by Divided by
The sum of The difference of The product of times The quotient of per
Increased by Decreased by The ratio of
Total Subtracted from
Added to
E.g., The product of three and a number is 3n, 3*n

The reciprocal of eight added to the product of five and a number x is 1/8 + 5x
Two less than the quotient of 15 and a number is 2 – (15÷b), 2 -15/b
(N/n= any number , is = equal)
MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION
10x + 11
Mathematical expression may consist numerical coefficient (the Numerical
number together the variable), literal coefficient (the variable value/coefficient Constant/
itself) and constant (any single number) Literal Isolated
Variable
MATHEMATICAL SENTENCE
Combination of two mathematical expression using a comparison operator. These expressions
either use numbers, variables or both. The comparison operator includes equal, not equal,
greater than, greater than or equal to, less than and less than or equal to
EQUALITY INEQUALITY
X+Y=0 x + y (>, <, ≤, ≥, ≠) 0
always has an equal sign
 Open Sentence - means that it uses variables, it is not known whether or not the
mathematical sentence is true or false
- 2xy < 3y
- 18w > 16s
 Closed Sentence – that known to be either true or false. It can be a TRUE CLOSED
SENTENCE and FALSE CLOSED SENTENCE; we can know true solving
- TRUE CLOSED SENTENCE: 2(x=y) = 2x+2y
- FALSE CLOSED SENTENCE; 10-1 = 8; 9 is an even number (a false statement)
CONVENTIONS IN THE MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE
 CONTEXT - this is the context in which we are working, or the particular rtopics being
studied,
 CONVENTION - where mathematicians and scientists have decided that particular
symbols will have particular meaning
SETS – A well-defined collection of distinct object and is denoted by an uppercase letter
- An object that belongs to a set is called an ELEMENT or MEMBER and it is usually
denoted by lower case letter. The symbol “€” denotes a membership while “€”
denotes non- membership to a set
e.g., X € A, read as x is an element of A
Ways of Describing a Set
 ROSTER/ TABULAR METHOD - Method in which the elements in the given set are
listed or enumerated, separated by a comma, inside a pair or braces
- A = {1, 2, 3, 4} B = {1, 4, 9, 16}
 RULE/ DESCRIPTIVE METHOD - Method in which the common characteristics of the
elements are defined. This method uses set builder notation where x is used to
represent any element of the given set
- A = {x│x € Z+, 1 ≤ x ≤ 4} is A = {1, 2, 3, 4}
read as Set A’s is equal to x such that x is an element of positive integer, and x is
greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to 4
Types Of Set
 EMPTY/ NULL/ VOID SET – set that has no elements, denoted by Ø or by a pair of
braces with no element inside; ()
 FINITE SET - a set with a countable number of elements; (a,b,c,…,z)
 INFINITE SET – a set has uncountable number of elements; (1,2,3,…)
 UNIVERSAL SET - the totality of all the elements of the sets under consideration,
denoted by U; (0,1,2,3,…)
Relationships Of Sets
 JOINT SETS - sets with at least one common element;
E = {1,2,4} & F = {1,3,9}
 DISJOINT SETS – set have no common element;
E = {2,4,6,8,10, ...} & F = {1,3,5,7,9, ...}
 EQUAL SETS – all elements are the same;
A = {r, e, a, d} & B = {r, e, a, d}
 EQUIVALENT SETS – set with the same number of elements;
A = {r, e, a, d} & B = {d, e, a, r}
SUBSET – set wherein every element of which can be found on the second set. ⊂
- If the first set equals the second set, then it is an improper subset. ⊆
- A null set is always a subset of any given set is considered an improper subset of the
given set. Other than the set itself and the null set, are all considered proper
subsets
- The set containing all the subsets of the given set with n number of elements is
called the power sets with 2n number of elements
Let T = {x ∣ x is the first three letters in English alphabet} = {a, b, c,}

Since set T has three elements, then the power set has 2 3 = 8 elements
Let S = {{a}, {b}, {c}, {a,b}, {a,c}, {b,c}, Ø }
Operations on Sets
 UNION OF SETS A and B (A U B) - set whose elements are found in A or B or in
both; A = {a, b, c, d}, B = {c, d, e}; Then A U B = {a, b, c, d, e}
 INTERSECTION OF SETS A and B (A ∩ B) – set whose elements are common to
both sets; A = {a, b, c, d}, B = {c, d, e}; Then A ∩ B = {c, d}
 DIFFERENCE OF SETS A and B (A - B) – set whose elements are found in set A but
not in set B; A = {a, b, c, d}, B = {c, d, e}; Then A - B = {a, b}
 COMPLEMENT OF SET A (A’) – the set of elements found in the
 universal set but not in set A; U = {a, b. c, d, e}, A = {a, b, c, d}, B = {c, d, e}
; Then A’ = {e}, B’ = {a, b}

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Chapter 2

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Mathematical Language and Symbols

Kenney, Hancewicz, Heuer, Metsisto and Tuttle (2005)

Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division

E.g., The product of three and a number is 3n, 3*n

Let T = {x ∣ x is the first three letters in English alphabet} = {a, b, c,}

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