Mathematics Spelling: Singular or Plural?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the linguistic classification of the term 'Mathematics', with participants debating whether it is singular or plural. While the Bourbaki group advocates for the singular form, many users acknowledge that 'Mathematics' can function as both singular and plural in different contexts. The informal abbreviations 'math' and 'maths' are identified as American and British variations, respectively. Ultimately, the consensus leans towards recognizing 'Mathematics' as primarily singular, despite its plural usage in certain expressions.

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  • Understanding of linguistic terminology, specifically noun classification.
  • Familiarity with American and British English spelling conventions.
  • Basic knowledge of the Bourbaki group's contributions to mathematics.
  • Awareness of how suffixes like '-ics' influence noun usage in English.
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  • Research the Bourbaki group's philosophy on mathematical terminology.
  • Explore the differences between American and British English in academic contexts.
  • Investigate the grammatical rules governing nouns ending in '-ics'.
  • Examine the implications of using singular versus plural forms in academic writing.
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Students, linguists, educators, and anyone interested in the nuances of mathematical terminology and its linguistic properties.

Mathematics is a...

  • singular noun

    Votes: 12 85.7%

  • plural noun

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Total voters
    14
Redsummers
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Precisely, about the spelling of the word 'Mathematics'.

I guess that everybody here would agree to just call it 'Mathematics', but there are some doubts I have regarding its linguistic properties.

Would you say is it a singular or a plural noun? I have personally seen it as both...
Then, what's with the informal abbreviation of 'math' and 'maths'? Is it just American/British spelling differences?

I was also wondering if it could be called 'Mathematic'... In Romance Languages, as in French, we could say 'Mathématiques' (plural) or 'Mathématique' (singular); and same for catalan, spanish, italian etc.

In fact, the Bourbaki group always used the singular form since they preferred to think about 'mathematic(s)' as an individual structure. (Yeah, okay, there's way more philosophy behind their use of the 'singular form' but that's not the main discussion.)Anyway, thanks for posting!Edit: Now that I see my poll... I wrote 'Mathematics is a...' lol, should've been more like 'is/are'. But anyway, I see that is 'singular' is winning.
 
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I think mathematics is both singular and plural...
 
Yeah I see, so I guess one could say both 'mathematics are...' and 'mathematics is...'. But certainly not 'mathematic is...', right?
 
well, I have heard that all sort of fields of study that ends with a suffix (ics) is considered as singular (mathematics, economics, politics, physics...). Don't trust me 100% cos english is not my first language!
 
Maths vs Math debate
 
Math wins every time.
 

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