Comments on: The nuts and bolts of writing mathematics

By: Writing mathematics | Research tips

Writing mathematics | Research tips — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:22:15 +0000

[...] But if you just want a quick summary, I recommend Dave Richeson’s blog entry “The nuts and bolts of writing mathematics”. [...]

By: Dave Richeson

Dave Richeson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:11:55 +0000

Thanks, David! Congratulations to your son.

I still love the Banach Obama t-shirt idea.

By: David Freeman

David Freeman — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:41:25 +0000

I really like that you occassionally repost a blog post like this. It makes a lot of sense since this type of information does not go out of date.

I remember when you first posted this one and I forwarded the link to my theoretical mathematics PhD student son (now a PhD). Now I realize that I was one of your early followers so I just went back and read the first 7 posts done prior to finding your blog (I’m the Banach Obama guy).

I strongly recommend to any new reader to go back and review earlier blogs … there are some real gems back there. And to Dr Richeson, keep reposting particularly useful posts like this one.

By: Dave Richeson

Dave Richeson — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:58:54 +0000

These are dangerous words. I’m not totally opposed to them, but they are definitely misused. I think that sometimes it is an ego thing (the author wants to make him/herself look smart) or a laziness thing (couldn’t be bothered writing the details). There are times, though, when something needs to be stated for the sake of the proof, but it is too trivial to waste space on proving it. In that case it is probably OK to say “clearly.”

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of reading a sentence that starts with “clearly,” pondering it for a long while, then realizing that, yes, it was clear :-)

By: Sue VanHattum

Sue VanHattum — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:18:21 +0000

I like these. I haven’t taught any proof-oriented classes in a long time, and may never need this for students, but you clarify some of it for me for my own mathematical writing.

>Special tip: if you want to use the word “get”, use the word “obtain” instead. It always sounds better.

I do disagree with this one, though. I mostly write for students, and have always tried to use simple language. (as simple as possible, and no simpler, who said that?) I like ‘get’ better, although if I had to say it a few times, I might also use obtain for variety’s sake.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:12:50 +0000

I was told by one of my professors, Dr. Stopple, never to use “obviously” or “clearly.”

If something is obvious or clear, we need not say it. If that same thing is then not obvious, or unclear, we should not introduce it as “obvious.” (obviously)

By: Alison Blank

Alison Blank — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:09:57 +0000

These are great guidelines! I think I’ll use most of them in my high school geometry class.