# Sum Of Products notation

I still keep expecting somebody to say, "Well there's a Reference Of Mathematical Notation by Joe Bloe at [some URL] and Amazon.com has the Compleat Dictionary Of Math Symbols & Their Usages for sale for $9.99." arildno Science Advisor Homework Helper Gold Member Dearly Missed Well, you won't find them. arildno said: Evidently, you are still having the wrong focus on these matters. Evidently. As enlightening as this all is, it is also frustrating. So as long as I get my meaning across, it doesn't matter how I spell and punctuate my formulae? Language and music have rules for writing, but math has no rules as long as the reader interprets my notation correctly? See, that's quite an alien concept for me. matt grime Science Advisor Homework Helper töff said: Where, for example, has anybody ever described how upper & lower limits can be specified or omitted/implied in sigma notation? because there is no need to: look at how it is done in your textbook and learn. I'm reasonably sure no one has seen fit to catalogue every single possible way to draw the letter s, either. arildno Science Advisor Homework Helper Gold Member Dearly Missed As long as your reader interprets it correctly ACCORDING TO THE DEFINITIONS GIVEN IN THE CONTEXT!!!!! Last edited: matt grime Science Advisor Homework Helper töff said: So as long as I get my meaning across, it doesn't matter how I spell and punctuate my formulae? I presume you're using spell and punctuate as analogies here. If you deliberately use a notation that has a reasonably universal meaning without explaining your new meaning you're making a mistake: it is up to you to explain what you mean with as much labouring the point as necessary. matt grime said: I'm reasonably sure no one has seen fit to catalogue every single possible way to draw the letter s, either. Oh God yes they have, from the Phoenicians through the Greeks and Hebrews, Shin to Sigma to S, all the Roman capitals, the Cyrillic alphabet, even the Cherokee syllabary ... there are histories of western writing systems, books about typefaces and letterforms, calligraphy manuals, analyses of medieval illuminated manuscripts, auctions for old lead or wooden typesetting blocks ... good lord, you could make a career of the letter "S" up to and including Superman's cape. Well, although I am still surprised at the lack of ANY standardized notation reference whatsoever (except lists of basic symbols, with minimal to no notes about usage), I suppose I must admit that I've made a poor assumption about the field of professional mathematics, and I'll just concede failure. Thanks to everyone who was patient enough to keep explaining it. And thanks for validating my original equation, too! matt grime Science Advisor Homework Helper töff said: Oh God yes they have, from the Phoenicians through the Greeks and Hebrews, Shin to Sigma to S, all the Roman capitals, the Cyrillic alphabet, even the Cherokee syllabary ... there are histories of western writing systems, books about typefaces and letterforms, calligraphy manuals, analyses of medieval illuminated manuscripts, auctions for old lead or wooden typesetting blocks ... good lord, you could make a career of the letter "S" up to and including Superman's cape. Not what I meant. Catalogue every single individual persons own way of writing the letter s, not the generic stylistic forms of large groups of people. I fail to see the analogy. In fact I believe I have failed to communicate just about completely. *sigh* And I call myself a writer. HAH! matt grime Science Advisor Homework Helper As long as it is understandable as an 's' you can understand what it is trying to convey. Similarly with every use of the sigma for sum: as long as people understand what it is trying to convey.... I believe this is what you are looking for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_mathematical_symbols But keep in mind that the symbols do not make up mathematics; the ideas behind those symbols do. You can use whatever notation you want, as long as you are consistent, and define them before hand. For example, I could define$ = e for my purposes. So I could write "L$t$psilon b$gr$at$r than z$ro", and though it is "unconventional", the ideas behind the sentence is invariant under notational change.

That Wiki page raises more questions than answers, and anyway it's not what I had in mind.