Did Feynman really use his own trig notations?

[Zurtex]

I agree with Feynman's objections, but LaTeX gets around this problem by using different fonts for such functions. However, most newbies to LaTeX don't use this feature. Hence, sin x is correctly
$$\sin (x)$$
while most people on this forum incorrectly use
$$sin (x)$$
In the latter expression, LaTeX treats sin as s times i times n. Click each symbol to see how it's done; it's simply an extra backslash.

LaTeX doesn't treat it as anything, it's not a programming language, it's just a way of displaying symbols.

 

[krab]

Sinus of "x" is correctly

$$\sin x$$

and not bracketed in any way.

Daniel.

Yes, that's usually the convention I use. But I was making a comparison. A newbie tends not to write "sin x" in LaTeX, because it looks like
$$sin x$$
(with no space) and I was guessing they tend to correct it by putting brackets round the x rather than cluing into the backslash.

 

[matt grime]

A newbie writes sin and not \sin because they are a newbie and not aware that \sin exists. It is nothing to do with their mathematical skills. If they care they will use \text{sin} first then learn about\ \sin

 

[TenaliRaman]

Sometimes things get beyond hands and i had a feeling it would be so. (Hmm ESP? or is it just Murphy's Law in action). Anyways, i do agree with the inverse sin problem and some years back i found a neat solution. Now i use asin or arcsin and my problem is solved. (uh-oh, is this one of the "my way of writing inverse sin" syndrome? )

-- AI

 

[Crosson]

Now i use asin or arcsin and my problem is solved.

I have for many years used "asin". But for me, the "a" does not stand for "arc". I read asin(x) as : "the angle whose sine is x".

The inverse sine of x is much harder for me to think about for some reason, then the angle whose sine is x.

 

[gazzo]

$$\frac{\sin x }{n} = six$$

 

[Zurtex]

$$\frac{\sin x }{n} = six$$

Eh? (And I mean that on so many levels)

 

[Icebreaker]

$$\frac{\sin x }{n} = six$$

Oh no, you've exposed the fact that mathematics is but an elaborate hoax! You've doomed us all! *runs*

 

[gazzo]

it was (kinda) funny at the time. bah, nevermind.