Introduction to Notation

In everyday life we use words and sentences to communicate and express ideas. In mathematics, we use special symbols, called mathematical notation to replace words and sentences. Sometimes to give us extra symbols we use the Greek alphabet.

You may think that notation looks complex at first, but you should remember that it is just a shorthand for sentences that would be lengthy if they were written out fully in English. To see this, try writing down:

without using mathematical symbols.

As you can see, using notation can save a lot of time and effort. It also helps us to express ideas clearly and concisely and it is the standard 'language' of mathematics world-wide.

You will already be familiar with many aspects of mathematical notation, for example:

The following two sections give an overview of some important mathematical notation that you may not be so familiar with.