this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Science Memes

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196
a or b (mander.xyz)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 80 points 4 months ago

Whatever LaTeX does by default

[–] [email protected] 54 points 4 months ago

LaTeX: typically let software decide for me, override if it looks bad.

Paper: Too shit at writing to make a consistent choice

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (2 children)

B. A only when there is little space

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Same, but there is never enough space

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Same. B if I'm feeling fancy, A if I'm trying to fit everything on one line.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Are those called limits in English? How do you call those things then?

lim x->0 1/x

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago

For integrals, we would say that "b and a are the limits of integration".

The notation "lim x->0 1/x" would be read as "the limit of 1 over x as x goes to zero." In general, "lim" is short for "limit" of whatever follows it, with respect to what is below the "lim" symbol. Rarely, I have also seen the notation "l.i.m." used for the limit in mean, i.e. the limit with respect to the L^2 norm.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I’ve always called them the bounds of integration but I’ve heard the term limits of integration too

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Also limits. But also "tends towards".

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Better question: Where do you put the dx?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

What? Where else would you put it?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Wherever you want it baby

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Immediately after the integral symbol, before the integrand, is also common: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1146345/notational-position-of-dx-in-integral

It has a nice "operator" look this way.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I would interpret this completely differently than what was intended

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

A fits on paper much better than B, especially when you try to write as small as possible to fit all of your work on one line

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Depends on if the integral is integrated in the text or if it gets its own area

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Out of these? I'm team Blue.

But really, I'm team Green. b goes more or less in the place Red shows it (or maybe halfway between where Red and Blue show it), but a goes to the left of the integration symbol, mirroring where the b goes relative to the curve at the end of the ∫

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Comrade!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

The kerning on Latex integrals has always bothered me. The f(x) could move a LOT further to the left!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Know your limit

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

(a, b) at the bottom. It's a 1d integral, so nothing goes after f as well for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Best answer, although I work with delta "functions" a lot so I actually have to be careful picking which interval with boundary {a,b} to pick (for example, if I integrated δ(t-a)+δ(t-b) over all t in (a,b), I'd get 0, but if I integrated those deltas over (a,b] I'd get 1, and integrating over [a,b] would give 2).

Also I do have to do integrals with parameters and multiple variables so I can't really leave out the differential.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

a sits on the dooblydoo on the left, b hangs from the dooblydoo on the right.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

A, B takes too much space

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

+ C: I’m so indefinite, I don’t respect limits.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Whatever latex does for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Depends on if I accidentally wrote the function too large

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

A gang. Does that mean I am old?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

ConTeXt has some nice new features: https://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/mathincontext-screen.pdf#page87

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

If a and b are simply numbers or variables (ex. 1, 2π, x), either, maybe red.

If a or b is a function (ex. (x + y), (1/N), (z - r²)), then blue.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Always A. Except when I’m drunk.