Mathematical Expressions

Mathematics is supposed to be a precise and universal language. In writing, that's mostly true -- as a matter of fact, mathematical symbols were invented not only to make the expression of mathematical concepts shorter, but also to allow collaboration between scientists from multiple countries.

However, mathematical symbols are often read incorrectly, again based on habits learned in a language other than English. Here is the correct way to say them:

Symbol Pronounced

< Less than

£ Less than or equal to

= Equal to

³ Greater than or equal to

> Greater than

¹ Different from (or "not equal to")

Symbol	Pronounced
<	Less than
£	Less than or equal to
=	Equal to
³	Greater than or equal to
>	Greater than
¹	Different from (or "not equal to")

Here are a couple of typical sentences in a mathematical proof or in the discussion of the handling of numeric values in a computer program:

"Let x be the independent variable, and let y be e^x"

"If the parameter was set to 1, then this function will reset it to 0."