# What kind of math notation is this?

1. Mar 20, 2012

### muffinman123

what kind of math language is this?

$I\subset \reals$
$$\gamma_i:I_i\rightarrow M,\quad I_i\subset\reals,\quad i=1,2$$
$\sigma_{\alpha\beta}$ , let $$\rJ\sigma_{\alpha\beta}:V_{\alpha\beta}\rightarrow \Mat_{n,n}(\reals)$$

I have seen this notation thrown around in this forum, but I never understood what they mean.

Last edited: Mar 21, 2012
2. Mar 20, 2012

### slider142

This is index notation in order to express concisely a list of many equations or functions.
For example, the first line that you write states that there are two distinct functions γ1 and γ2 such that γ1 maps I1 into M where I1 is a subset of the real numbers and γ2 maps I2 into M where I2 is a subset of the real numbers.
The arrow notation defines the domain and codomain of the function: I1 is the domain of γ1 and M is the codomain.
The second set of notation has two indexes on each object; each index is taken to vary independently. For example, if the restrictions on α and β were explicitly given as α = 1, 2 and β = 1, 2, then the expression is a concise way of expressing the following list of expressions:
$$\text{For }\sigma_{11},\text{ let }J\sigma_{11} : V_{11}\rightarrow\text{Mat}_{n, n}(\Re)$$
$$\text{For }\sigma_{12},\text{ let }J\sigma_{12} : V_{12}\rightarrow\text{Mat}_{n, n}(\Re)$$
$$\text{For }\sigma_{21},\text{ let }J\sigma_{21} : V_{21}\rightarrow\text{Mat}_{n, n}(\Re)$$
$$\text{For }\sigma_{22},\text{ let }J\sigma_{22} : V_{22}\rightarrow\text{Mat}_{n, n}(\Re)$$
In words, the sentence defines a list of 4 functions Jσ_ab that maps each respective space V_ab into the set of nxn matrices with real components. In particular, this means that Jσ_12 takes an element of V_12 as an input and returns an nxn matrix with real components as an output. The explicit operation performed by the function on those elements of V_12 is not specified in this expression.

3. Mar 21, 2012

### muffinman123

alright, let me make this question simpler, what language is this?
is it latex?

4. Mar 21, 2012