Mathematical symbols?

[Merlin66]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191031-hilda-geiringer-mathematician-who-fled-the-nazis

Look at the main image, the formula on the board..........

Something odd?? What's "sen"

 

[Ouroboros]

Seno is sine in Portuguese, maybe other languages. 

[Merlin66]

Yeah,

It seems to be in Spanish = sin

 

[Piero]

In Italian, we call it sen or sin.

[JamesF]

It had never occurred to me that some mathematical notation might be language specific.  That's something I've learned today then

James

[Ouroboros]

Continental Europeans use a comma for the decimal point. I think that looks odd. 

[Gina]

Of course, when you're used to a full stop.

[Ouroboros]

Quite.  As the Frenchman said "I did think that secondhand  Ferrari was cheap at £225,990".  

[Rusted]

Which leads to confusion if you have a bilingual keyboard.

The Scandinavian keyboard has Æ,Å & Ø as well as all the "normal" letters.

The number pad on the right of the Scandinavian keyboard has a full stop which types a comma!

This is because I normally use UK English language but set the Keyboard to Danish.
This is because I browse and shop in both languages all of the time.
The numeral pad full stop only produces a full stop if I change the keyboard to English.

Google spelling checker constantly struggles with bilingualism unless I manually change the language setting.
Which, for very obvious reasons, I'd much rather not do.
Writing and receiving emails merely adds to the spelling checker's problems.
I send and receive mails and messages in both languages.

[johninderby]

The decimal comma vs the decimal point.

https://uk.smartickmethod.com/blog/math/learning-resources/decimal-separators/

[Rob Sellent]

In Spain there are a number of curiosities:

A billion is a million x million, whereas in other countries (UK/USA?) it's a smaller thousand x million.

4.21 in the UK is equal to 4,21 in Spain. 9,876 in the UK is equal to 9.876 in Spain. On a similar theme, much basic arithmetic is worked out differently and 7 has a line put through it to distinguish it from 1.

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Rob Sellent

[tooth_dr]

5 minutes ago, Rob Sellent said:

7 has a line put through it to distinguish it from 1.

 

Interest points, but not sure if this is specific to Spain.  I've always done it, and my kids at school are doing it.

[Gina]

I thought a 7 with a stroke was common to most of the Continant. 

In some fonts a 1 is identical to a capital I - this can be confusing!

[Rusted]

Roman numerals are a problem with everyday fonts.
It needs a specific font to differentiate the Roman 1, V, X & M
VIII or XV111 just look so wrong without the bars top and bottom.

The Danes use milliarder for billion meaning only 1,000,000,000.
Millioner is the more conventional million in Gravely Blighted.

To make matters more confusing their currency [Danish Kroner] is roughly 1/10 of a £GBP.
So what sounds like a great fortune in Danish money is quite modest in £GBP.
House prices only seem expensive in Danish Kroner.
I million Kroner [£100k] probably wouldn't buy a garage in London.

[Gina]

Yes, Roman numerals definitely need a serif font.

We in the UK used to use 1,000,000,000,000 (10^12)  as a billion but the US 1,000,000,000 (10^9) was adopted to bring us into line with the USA and help avoid confusion, I gather.  Whether the confusion was really reduced is questionable IMO.