[seqfan] A/B*C deprecated

Neil Sloane njasloane at gmail.com
Sat Dec 28 14:07:24 CET 2019


Dear SeqFans / Editors
Generations of mathematicians like myself studied from books like
Chrystal's classic "Algebra" (1886, 7th ed still in print from Chelsea),
where A/B*C means A/(B*C):
Here is an example picked at random:
Show that Sum_{1..oo} 1/n (4n^2-1)^2 = 3/2 - 2 log 2.

On the other hand computer scientists often interpret A/B*C as (A/B)*C,
perhaps influenced by Maple etc.,  where one sees
1 + 1/2*x + 1/4*x^2 + 1/8*x^3 + 1/16*x^4 + ... (ugh!),

To avoid this ambiguity, in the OEIS  please never write A/B*C, always
write either (A/B)*C or A/(B*C).

E.g. either
1 + (1/2)*x + (1/4)*x^2 + (1/8)*x^3 + (1/16)*x^4 + ...  or
1 + 1/(2*x) + 1/(4*x^2) + 1/(8*x^3) + 1/(16*x^4) + ...
depending on whether you want x to be very small or very large.



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