Seminar on Mathematical Writing, WS 2013/14
Günter Rote.
Impressum
Contents
Expressing mathematical thoughts in a way that is pleasant to follow for the reader is difficult. In this hands-on seminar, we practice the skills that are necessary to achieve this ambitious goal. We will look at mathematical writings from various sources. The audience can also bring their own samples. By studying different ways of expressing the same contents, we will become aware of what makes good writing. We will discuss various rules and guidelines for good writing that have been proposed in the literature. Topics include the logical structure of arguments, good language style, choice of notation, algorithms, and also the design of slides for presentation.
Target Audience
The seminar is aimed at advanced students of mathematics and theoretical computer science.
The participants should have some experience in writing scientific
texts.
This seminar is not for credit.
Location
Thursdays, 16–18 Uhr, Seminarraum 046, Takustraße 9
List of classes
-
Oct 23, 2014
- Order of presentation (in the small)
- Exercise 1 (PDF, LaTeX)
- Oct 30, 2014
- Logical structure.
- Direct and indirect proofs.
Example
- Exercise 2 (PDF)
- Additional exercise 3, for fun (PDF)
- November 6, 2014
- November 13, 2014
- November 20, 2014
- November 27, 2014
- December 4, 2014: no class
- December 11, 2014: no class
- December 18, 2014: discussion of homework
- Posters
- discussion of homework
- January 8, 2015:
- January 22, 2015:
- Order of presentation and ideas, style.
-
Example to be improved.
- January 29, 2015:
- et al. is unethical.
- Order of presentation and ideas, style
-
Example to be improved.
- February 5, 2015:
- Introductions. Paragraph structure
- February 12, 2015:
- Active and passive voice, nominalization
- which and that, commas
- each and every, any and all,
singular and plural
- Example sentences.
- Further Topics
- Animations. Comparison is easier for simultaneous view
- Be specific.
- Avoid misunderstandings.
- efficient communication
- symbols versus prose. notation.
- definite or indefinite articles
- Not every LaTeX {equation} is an equation.
Selected Literature
-
Donald E. Knuth, Tracy L. Larrabee, and Paul M. Roberts:
Mathematical Writing. MAA Notes, 1989.
Standford CS
Technical Report
CS1193
-
Nicolas Higham:
Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences. SIAM, 1998
-
Leonard Gillmann:
Writing Mathematics Well.
Math. Association of America, 1987
-
Norman Steenrod, Paul Halmos, Manahem Schiffer, Jean Dieudonné:
How to Write Mathematics.
American Math. Soc., 1973
- Joseph M. Williams and Gregory C. Colomb: Style. Toward Clarity
and Grace, University of
Chicago Press, 1990.
Günter Rote