Mario Román

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punctuation on mathematical formulas

Last updated Jan 8, 2025

A standard principle for the punctuation of mathematical formulae is that they should be punctuated exactly the same as text is. Even when the formula is displayed in a separate line, it should follow standard punctuation: it should end with a dot, it should not necessarily be preceded by a colon, it should not be outside of the sentence.

Bad punctuation Let f ⁣:RRf \colon \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} be defined by the following formula: f(x)=exf(x) = e^{x} A duoidal category has a distributor d ⁣:(XW)(YZ)(XY)(WZ)d \colon (X \lhd W) \otimes (Y \lhd Z) \to (X \otimes Y) \lhd (W \otimes Z)

Better punctuation Let f ⁣:RRf \colon \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} be defined by f(x)=ex.f(x) = e^{x}. A duoidal category has a distributor, d ⁣:(XW)(YZ)(XY)(WZ).d \colon (X \lhd W) \otimes (Y \lhd Z) \to (X \otimes Y) \lhd (W \otimes Z).

As a general principle, the reader should be able to read the sentence out loud on their head, reading each mathematical symbol out loud and reaching a well-punctuated sentence.

References.

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