Typographical question (equation numbers)

[nomadreid]

This is just an editing, not a conceptual, question. (Hence I don't put it in the other forums.) In a text, when one refers to a particular equation by number, as in "we see in Equation (12) that...", the "equation" is capitalized (upper case). When it is not named, of course, not :"we see in the equation below that..." However, what does one do in the following cases?
"we see in the dispersion equation (12) that...", "we see in the continuity equation (12) that...".
"dispersion Equation (12)" "Dispersion Equation (12)" "Dispersion equation (12)", "dispersion equation (12)"
(similarly for continuity...)
Thanks

 

[S.G. Janssens]

In a text, when one refers to a particular equation by number, as in "we see in Equation (12) that...", the "equation" is capitalized (upper case).

Usually I write just the number (without any "equation" or "Equation"), but it is a matter of preference, and possible journal requirements.

However, what does one do in the following cases?
"we see in the dispersion equation (12) that...", "we see in the continuity equation (12) that...".
"dispersion Equation (12)" "Dispersion Equation (12)" "Dispersion equation (12)", "dispersion equation (12)"
(similarly for continuity...)

Following my own style, I would write "dispersion equation (12)", but since you always capitalize "Equation" anyway, I think in your case one could argue for "Dispersion Equation (12)".

 

[nomadreid]

Thanks, S.G. Janssens. I am wondering: doesn't "Dispersion Equation (12)" make it sound as if there had been 11 other numbered dispersion equations before that (rather than 11 other types of equations)?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Equation 12 is a proper noun.
The dispersion equation (12) is not.

 

[DrClaude]

The capitalization in itself is a question of style. Taking as an example Physical Review, in the style guide one can find the following example:

FIG. 1. Continuous line: solution of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation (13) with the use of dynamical self-energy of Eq. (5). Broken line: static Coulomb wave function given by Eq. (9) of the text.

so I would use "the dispersion equation (12)."

 

[gmax137]

How about "...we see in the dispersion equation (Equation 12) ..."
or
".. we see in Equation 12 (the dispersion equation)..."

Edit
I think the root problem is, you have two "names" for the same thing:

• Equation 12
• the dispersion equation

 

[Office_Shredder]

I find the idea of "Equation 12" being a proper noun to be a bit weird, but it does seem reasonable that "the dispersion equation" is not a proper noun, since it has the word "the" in it and hence is not actually a name.

For example if you were picking people for teams, you would never say "I pick the Emily" even if there was only one Emily.

 

[BillTre]

OTOH, I knew a guy in the UK, who would talk about going to the Gambia (country in Africa).
I live in the US.
The bolded words are all proper nouns.

 

[BWV]

Would write 'dispersion equation (Equation 12)' the 'dispersion equation' is the name and (Equation 12) is the reference