Strange query
- Thread starter dimitrz
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- Feb 4, 2004
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It's convention. It's like what side of the street you drive on. It isn't morally better to drive, say, on the left than on the right; it's just a convention. But once the convention is chosen, one flouts it at one's peril (and it is arguably morally wrong to endanger others by said flouting).
Mathematical notation is much the same way. Arbitrary symbols were chosen, gained traction, were accepted as "the" way to write things, and thus became convention. There is nothing cosmically "right" about it; other characters and symbols could have been invented, and would have been equally legitimate. But once a convention for communication is chosen, in mathematics as in any other language, that convention becomes "the right way" to communicate. Using other methods (such as reversing orientation in vertical addition) is akin to thinking pig-Latin is an adequate method of communication in all contexts. Yes, people can generally figure out what you meant (in normal conventional speech), but an educator could hardly be said to be doing her job if she accepted pig-Latin in an English essay.
In the same way, while people can probably usually figure out what the child's meaning was, the educator would have been derelict not to have taught the child the standard method of communication.
Mathematical notation is much the same way. Arbitrary symbols were chosen, gained traction, were accepted as "the" way to write things, and thus became convention. There is nothing cosmically "right" about it; other characters and symbols could have been invented, and would have been equally legitimate. But once a convention for communication is chosen, in mathematics as in any other language, that convention becomes "the right way" to communicate. Using other methods (such as reversing orientation in vertical addition) is akin to thinking pig-Latin is an adequate method of communication in all contexts. Yes, people can generally figure out what you meant (in normal conventional speech), but an educator could hardly be said to be doing her job if she accepted pig-Latin in an English essay.
In the same way, while people can probably usually figure out what the child's meaning was, the educator would have been derelict not to have taught the child the standard method of communication.
There actually IS a form called "Reverse Polish Notation" which puts the operator AFTER the operands.....
For example, 3 + 4 would be written as 3 4 +
See this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Polish_notation
I know, it is Wikipedia, but it is correct
My son used a calculator that required Reverse Polish Notation when he began his engineering courses in college.
For example, 3 + 4 would be written as 3 4 +
See this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Polish_notation
I know, it is Wikipedia, but it is correct
My son used a calculator that required Reverse Polish Notation when he began his engineering courses in college.