People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Algeria

Blida 1 University

Numbers, Mathematical symbols and formulas

Prepared and presented by

Dr. BOUKENOUI Rachid
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 Problematic

As you know, Mathematical formulas are primarily

presented visually, and when these formulas are
presented orally, it can be ambiguous.

This is because when reading mathematics orally, the written

expression may always be read symbol by symbol, but if the
expression is too long or there are clusters of expressions, it
can be very tedious and hard to understand.
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Objective

So, in an attempt to alleviate the aforementioned problems,

this course has been compiled to establish some consistent
and well-defined ways of uttering mathematical expressions so
that listeners will receive clear, unambiguous, and well-
pronounced representations of the subject.

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This course is organized as follows:

Types of Numbers

Reading and writing figures

Reading and writing Ordinal numbers

Reading and writing mathematical symbols and

formulas

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Types of Numbers

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Types of Numbers

Natural numbers: are whole numbers greater than zero. These

numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, …∞, numbers that you can physically count.

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Types of Numbers

Integers: are whole numbers, both negative and positive, including

zero. These numbers are …, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, …..

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Types of Numbers

Rational numbers : are numbers that can be written as a fraction

where both the numerator and denominator are integers. Examples of
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these would be 3 and 7 .

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Types of Numbers

Irrational numbers : are numbers that can’t be written as fractions,

examples of these are : 2 and 𝜋
If we try to write these numbers as decimals they go on forever, with no
recurring digits.

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Types of Numbers

Real numbers : are all the numbers that you have ever come across
(i.e. all of the rational and irrational numbers).

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 Reading and
writing figures

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Reading and writing figures

605 Six hundred and five

651 Six hundred and fifty-one

1235 One thousand, two hundred and thirty-five

4 651 Four thousand, Six hundred and fifty-one

100 025 One hundred thousand and twenty-five

999 555 Nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, five hundred and fifty-five

165 522 One hundred sixty-five thousand, five hundred and twenty-two

109 159 One hundred nine thousand, one hundred and fifty-nine

6 666 666 Six million, six hundred sixty-six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six
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When we write numbers greater than
hundred, we should not put the “s” of
plural in the end of ‘hundred’, ‘thousand’
or ‘million’, except for the expression of
quantity like:

• There were hundreds of people,

• Hundreds of Euros,
• Thousands of light years,
• They came in thousands,

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Reading and writing figures

Activity: Spell the following numbers correctly.

110 one hundred and ten

1 250 one thousand, two hundred and fifty

2 001 two thousand and one

55 555 fifty-five thousand, five hundred and fifty-five

201 000 Two hundred and one thousand

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Reading and writing figures

0.1 Zero point one

0.6 Zero (or “O”) point six

1.07 One point zero (or “O”) seven

0.12 Zero point one two

- 0.5 Minus zero point five

- 3.8 Minus three point eight

0.1532 Zero point one five three two

- 100.5 Minus one hundred point five

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Reading and writing figures

Activity: Spell the following numbers correctly.

0.22 Zero point two two

3.25 Three point two five

35.06 Thirty five point zero six

Minus fifty five point five five

- 55.55

-1000.3 Minus one thousand point three

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Reading and writing figures

𝟏Τ A half (a fraction)
𝟐

𝟏Τ A third
𝟑

𝟏Τ A quarter
𝟒

𝟏 𝟏Τ𝟐 One and a half

𝟏 𝟐Τ𝟑 One and two thirds

𝟓 𝟑Τ𝟒 Five and three quarters

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Reading and writing figures

Activity: Spell the following numbers correctly.

𝟗 𝟏Τ𝟒 Nine and a quarter

𝟕 𝟐Τ𝟑 Seven and two thirds

𝟖 𝟏Τ𝟐 Eight and a half

𝟒 𝟑Τ𝟒 Four and three quarters

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Reading and writing figures

Association “Number-Unit”

20 000 Kg Twenty thousand kilograms

200 000 m Two hundred thousand meters
300 € Three hundred Euros
100 Da One hundred Dinars

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Reading and writing
Ordinal numbers

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Reading and writing Ordinal numbers

1st First 11th Eleventh 30th Thirtieth

2nd Second 12th Twelfth 40th Fortieth

3rd Third 20th Twentieth 50th Fiftieth

4th Fourth 21st Twenty-first 60th Sixtieth

Fifth 22nd Twenty-second 70th Seventieth

5th
23rd Twenty-third 80th Eightieth
6th Sixth
24th Twenty-fourth 90th Ninetieth
7th Seventh
25th Twenty-fifth 100th One Hundredth
8th Eighth
26th Twenty-sixth 1 000th One Thousandth
9th Ninth
27th Twenty-seventh 1 000 000th One Millionth
10th Tenth
28th Twenty-eighth
29th Twenty-ninth 21
Reading and writing Ordinal numbers

Activity: Spell the following ordinal numbers correctly.

681st Six hundred and eighty-first.

421st Four hundred and twenty-first

5 111th Five thousand, one hundred and eleventh

112th Hundred and twelfth

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Reading and writing Ordinal numbers

Activity: This is my first PV module, so try

to figure out how many PV cells it has

Your ……. PV module is

composed of …….PV cells

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Reading mathematical
symbols and formulas

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

multiplication sign | multiplied by | times | the product of

division sign | divided by | over

addition sign | plus

subtraction sign | minus

equal to | equals

approximately equal to

plus or minus

not equal to | does not equal

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

intersection of two sets

union of two sets

grater than or equal to

less than or equal to

grater than

less than

square brackets

parentheses

curly brackets
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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

belong to | element of

not belong to | not element of

percent

infinity

integral

sum of

equivalent to

implies

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

Pi = 3.14

empty set

square root of

cube root of

fourth root of

triangle | delta

absolute value of

factorial

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

segment AB

ray AB | vector AB

line AB

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒂𝒏 a sub n

𝒂𝒊𝒋 a sub i and j

𝒂′ a prime

𝒂′′ a double prime

ෝ
𝒂 a hat | a roof

ഥ
𝒂 a bar

𝒂ሶ a dot

𝒂 absolute value of a | modulus a 30

Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒂 Square root of a

𝟑
𝒂 Cube root of a

𝒏
𝒂 nth root of a

∆x delta x | increment X

𝒙−𝟏 x to the minus one

𝒙𝟐 x squared

𝒙𝟑 x cubed

𝒙𝒏 x to the n | x superscript n
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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝜽 sine of theta | sine theta

𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 co sine of theta | co sine theta

𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝜽 tangent of theta | tangent theta

𝒔𝒊𝒏𝟐 (𝜽 + 𝝎) sine squared theta plus omega

𝒄𝒐𝒔𝟐 (𝜽 + 𝝎) Co sine squared theta plus omega

𝒕𝒂𝒏𝟐 (𝜽 + 𝝎) Tangent squared theta plus omega

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒍𝒏 𝒙 the natural log of x | L n of x

𝒆𝒙 e to the x | e raised to the x

𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 𝒙 log to the base 10 of x

𝒅𝒚 the derivative of y with respect to x

d y over d x
𝒅𝒙 d y by d x

lim 𝒇(𝒙) limit as x approaches plus infinity of f x

𝒙→+∞

𝒂𝟐 ≥ 𝟏 a squared greater than or equal to 1

𝟎<𝒕<𝒙 zero less than t, less than x

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

෍ 𝒙𝒊 Summation from i equals 1 to n of x sub i

𝒊=𝟏
𝒃
න 𝒇 𝒙 𝒅𝒙 Integral from a to b of f x d x

𝒂
two by two matrix, first row 2 7, second row 3
𝟐 𝟕
𝟑 𝟏𝟎 10, first column 2 3 , second column 7 10

𝒂𝟏
𝒂𝟐 n column vector, a sub one, a sub two, dot
⋮ dot dot (ellipsis), a sub n

𝑎𝑛 34
Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒂+𝒃 a plus b

𝒂−𝒃 a minus b

a minus the sum b plus c

𝒂 − (𝒃 + 𝒄) a minus the quantity b plus c
a minus open parenthesis b plus c close parenthesis

a minus the difference b minus c

𝒂 − (𝒃 − 𝒄) a minus the quantity b minus c
a minus open parenthesis b minus c close parenthesis

a minus the quantity minus b minus c

𝒂 − −𝒃 − 𝒄 a minus open parenthesis minus b minus c close parenthesis

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

a minus open parenthesis b plus c close

𝒂− 𝒃+𝒄 −𝐝 parenthesis minus d

a minus b minus open parenthesis c minus d

𝒂−𝒃− 𝒄+𝒅 close parenthesis

a sub 1 plus a sub 2 plus dot dot dot (ellipsis)

𝒂𝟏 + 𝒂𝟐 + ⋯ + 𝒂𝒏 plus a sub n

𝒇′ 𝒙 = 𝒙𝟑 − 𝟖 f prime of x equals x cubed minus 8

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

a times b
a multiplied by b
𝒂×𝒃
a cross b
the product of a and b

𝒂 .𝒃 a dot b

𝒂 𝒃 ab

𝒂 × −𝒃 a times minus b

𝒂𝒃 + 𝒄 a b plus c

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒂(𝒃 + 𝒄) a open parenthesis b plus c close parenthesis

𝒂 𝒃+𝒄 +𝒅 a open parenthesis b plus c close parenthesis plus d

𝒂 (𝒃 − 𝒄) a open parenthesis b minus c close parenthesis

𝒂 (−𝒃 − 𝒄) a open parenthesis minus b minus c close parenthesis

𝒂 (𝒃 − 𝒄 + 𝒅) a open parenthesis b minus c plus d close parenthesis

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

a open parenthesis b plus c close

𝒂 𝒃 + 𝒄 − 𝒆(𝒇 − 𝒈) parenthesis minus e open parenthesis f
minus g close parenthesis.

a open bracket b plus c minus e open

𝒂 𝒃+𝒄−𝒆 𝒇−𝒈 parenthesis f minus g close parenthesis,
close bracket

open parenthesis a plus b close parenthesis

𝒂 + 𝒃 (𝒄 − 𝒅) open parenthesis c plus d close parenthesis

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

a over b
𝒂 a upon b
𝒃 a divided by b
the ratio of a to b

𝒂+𝒃
the quantity a plus b over c
𝒄
𝒃
𝒂+ a plus the fraction b over c
𝒄
𝒃
𝒂+ a plus the fraction b over the quantity c plus d
𝒄+𝒅
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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒂+𝒃
+𝒅 the quantity a plus b over c, that fraction plus d
𝒄

𝒃
𝒂+ +𝒅 a plus the fraction b over c, that fraction plus d
𝒄
𝒂 𝒄
+ the fraction a over b plus the fraction c over d
𝒃 𝒅
𝒂
𝒃 a over b, that fraction over d
𝒅
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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒂
𝒃 a divided by the fraction c over d

𝒂
𝒃
𝒄 the fraction a over b divided by the fraction c over d

𝒂+𝒃
𝒄 the quantity a plus b over c, that fraction divided by d
𝒅
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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒄
𝒂 𝒃+ a times the quantity b plus the fraction c over d
𝒅
𝒄
𝒂+𝒃 the fraction c over d times the quantity a plus b
𝒅

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒚 = 𝒂𝒙 + 𝒃 y equals a x plus b

𝒂𝒙𝟐
y equals a X squared plus b x plus c
𝒚= + 𝒃𝒙 + 𝒄

𝒙 𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 = 𝒓 𝟐 X squared plus Y squared equals r squared

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

the difference x minus h squared

(𝒙 − 𝒉) 𝟐 +(𝒚 − 𝒌)𝟐 =𝒓𝟐 plus the difference y minus k
squared equals r squared

𝒙𝟐 𝒚𝟐 the fraction x squared over a squared

𝟐
+ 𝟐=𝟏 plus the fraction y squared over b
𝒂 𝒃 squared equals 1

x equals minus b plus or minus the

−𝒃 ± 𝒃𝟐 − 𝟒𝒂𝒄 square root of the difference b
𝒙= squared minus 4 a c, that whole
𝟐𝒂 quantity divided by 2 a
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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒙𝟐
e to the fraction x squared over two power
𝒆𝟐

𝒆𝐱+𝒚 e to the quantity x plus y power

𝒆𝐱 𝒆𝒚 e to the x power times e to the y power

𝒆𝐱 + 𝒚 e to the x power plus y

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Reading mathematical symbols and formulas

𝒍𝒏 𝟑 × 𝟒 the natural log of the product 3 times 4

𝟐
𝒍𝒏 the natural log of the fraction 2 over 5
𝟓

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