Mathematical symbols

MATHEMATICAL TERMS, UNITS, SYMBOLS

Calculations – addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logarithm

• 9 + 2 = nine plus two equals / is equal to

• 20 – 7 = twenty minus seven equals / is equal to

• 4 x 36 = Four multiplied by thirty-six / four times thirty-six equals / is equal to

• 10 : 5 = ten divided by five equals / is equal to

• log𝑎𝑥 = log base a of x equals / is equal to

Powers and roots

• x2 - x squared

• x3 - x cubed

• x4 - x to the fourth (power)/ x to the four/ x to the power (of) four/ x raised to the fourth power

• x-5 - x to the power (of) minus five / x to the minus five / x to the minus fifth (power)

• xy - x to the y

• √𝑥 - the square root of x

• 3√𝑥 - the cube root of x

• n√𝑥 - the nth root of x

Ordinals

• 1st the first

• 2nd the second

• 3rd the third

• 24th the twenty-fourth

Decimals

• 0.25 - nought/zero point two five

• 30.33 m - thirty point three three meters

Fractions

• 1/2 - a/one half

• 5/2 - five halves

• 1/3 - a/one third

• 2/3 - two thirds

• 1/4 - a/one quarter

• 1/5 - a/one fifth

• 3/7 - three sevenths

• 27/200 - twenty-seven over two hundred

Complex fractions are usually read with ‘over’:

• 𝑎/𝑏 - a over b

Percentages

27 % - twenty-seven per cent or twenty-seven percent (AmE)

Temperature

• 95 °C - ninety-five degrees Celsius/Centigrade

• 13 °F - thirteen degrees Fahrenheit / thirteen Fahrenheit

• -5 °C - minus five degrees Celsius / minus five degrees Centigrade / five degrees below (zero)

Units

• mol - mole

• mol/dm3 - a mole per cubic decimetre/decimetre (AmE)

• ml/mL - millilitre/millilitre (AmE)

Symbols

• ( ) - round brackets/parentheses/grouping

• [ ] - square brackets/brackets

• {} - curly brackets/braces/grouping

• (A+B) - open brackets, A plus B, close brackets / A+B in brackets

• A < B - A is less than B

• A > B - A is greater than B

• A ≠ B - A is not equal to B

• A ≈ B - A is approximately equal to B

• → - give(s), lead(s) to, yield(s)

• ↔ - forms and is formed from

• A - capital A

• a - small a

• x2 - subscript

• x2 – superscript

. point

• hyphen (between words)/dash (in a sentence or between numbers)

_ underscore

/ slash

\ backslash

, coma

; semicolon

: colon

‘ apostrophe