Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

Re:Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation? by cursorial on Thursday November 22, 2018 @10:48AM (#18510632)

Ah, I see, so it's just a matter of reading something, not understanding it, figuring out what it means and learning from that rather than there being a place where I can specifically read up on it.

I guess I just need more practice.

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Re:Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation? by ColinWright on Thursday November 22, 2018 @10:52AM (#18510660)

> ... so it's just a matter of reading something, not understanding it, figuring out what it means and learning from that rather than there being a place where I can specifically read up on it.

Not entirely ... but partially. That's one way you can start to learn. Usually formulas are presented with a broad gloss in English (or other) to let you know roughly what it is saying, with the formula just being a precise way of saying it that can subsequently be used in algebraic manipulations.

Example:

The force due to the Earth's gravity is represented by g at the surface, and falls off as an inverse square. Thus:

F_d = g(R/d)^2

where R is the radius of the Earth.

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