Questions about how to read mathematical notation

Question

Following the closure of my question here, I would like to know in what cases asking questions about how to read mathematical notation aloud are off-topic.

In the comments to my question, I mentioned several other questions about similar topics, but which received different treatment. For example, consider the question How can I read this mathematical sentence aloud in English?

I believe that the fact I asked a question about Russian, rather than English, may have led to this outcome. For example, if I had asked, "Does one say $(n+1)$st or $(n+1)$th?" I believe the fact that the question has a mathematical component to it would have been recognized, in that it is related to the practice of mathematics. It is hard to believe that questions specifically about the language used in mathematics can be off-topic.

EDIT: Here is another example that is no less (or more) tangentially related to mathematics than was my question. How is $e^x$ read aloud?

EDIT: Here are some more examples that could just as easily be argued to be about language.

How does one pronounce $a \odot b$?

How to pronounce "tableaux"?

How do you pronounce (partial) derivatives?

How do you pronounce the inverse of the $\in$ relation? How do you say $G\ni x$?

Pronouncing $A\triangle B$

How would I pronounce the symbol $[E:F]$?

How to pronounce the partition relation

How is "Hessian" pronounced?

How do you pronounce $\mathbb{R}^2, \dots, \mathbb{R}^n$

how do you read: "$\lim (n-1)/(n-2) = 1$"

How do you read the symbol "$\in$"?

Answer 1

Since nobody else has given this answer, I will put it here.

Questions about mathematical symbols, terms and expressions are on-topic (subject of course to general restrictions such as being clear, etc.) This includes questions about how to read a formula aloud. This is consistent with the examples listed in the OP, which show a high degree of tolerance for these questions in practice.

Questions about how to read a formula aloud are not really any more about language than if a person asks how to write something. (E.g., "What symbol do you use here?") The difference is that it is a question about the spoken language of mathematics rather than the written one, and the spoken one is less commonly asked about.

A question about how to read a formula aloud is not by its nature primarily opinion-based. It may simply be asking for the most common ways of saying something, rather than a qualitative judgment about which ways are best. Most such questions will be asking for an answer that reports a factual situation. For example, just as I can ask "What written symbols are in use to denote proper inclusion of sets?" I can also ask "How do you read them?" Neither question is more opinion-based than the other, neither one more or less about mathematics. While there may be a higher degree of variation in spoken usage than written, that does not place the spoken language of mathematics outside the realm of objective discourse.

For cases where there is potentially a higher degree of subjectivity involved, such as where someone asks what's best, I won't take a position, as it can be argued that an answer could still be formulated in such a way as to be based on facts. (For example, "Knuth wrote that it's better to say it this way.") But that is not what this question is mainly about.

Answer 2

I would like to add that the ability to communicate is as important to the field of mathematics as the ability to perform technically. How many of us have had students mired in a notational morass, essentially trying to outsmart themselves? How many of us have had problems asking a question because we didn't know the right vocabulary to use? Indeed, the history of math is riddled with examples where specialists in one field held the solution to a problem that specialists in another field sought, but it was years before this was realized, simply because the two fields did not speak a common mathematical language!

Mathematical communication is not only written, but spoken. We give or attend lectures, we sit or present seminars and colloquia, and so forth. To say that asking about proper ways to speak (or write) about math is not a mathematical question simply because the question could belong to a different domain is, in my opinion, a silly notion.

Answer 3

user204305: many questions on this site are not specifically about a mathematical question, but are nonetheless accepted because it is clear mathematicians are the people in the best position to answer them

I strongly disagree with POV that any questions for which 'mathematicians are the people in the best position to answer them' are (or should be) on-topic on Math.SE.

Some of such questions should be posted, say, on Academia.SE or MathEducators.SE. Some questions (like... say, questions about best chalk to use) are on-topic on none of SE sites.

But Math.SE is for mathematical questions (not 'questions that mathematicians have' — cf. SO vs Programmers.SE) that can be answered (not just discussed). (Admittedly sometimes there are exceptions — and certainly there are oversights — I have voted to close some of the questions you've mentioned.)

Your question is both not a mathematical question and doesn't have a precise answer (all variants of reading you list are used in real life, choosing between them is a matter of style).

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P.S. Dear user204305, indeed for some reason I've assumed you to be a native speaker [of Russian]. While finding answer to your question is easy for a native speaker living in Russia it might be quite hard otherwise. Yet — no offence meant but — I still believe such questions to be off-topic here on Math.SE

So... I've tried to answer that particular question in comments — but if it's not quite answered your question or you need to ask something else about mathematical Russian — please feel free to write me an email — or maybe better yet write a post on Russian.SE and send me a link — I'll try to answer (obligatory disclaimer: I'm not an expert — just a native speaker of Russian with some mathematical background).