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The letter ℘: name and origin? (2017)

(mathoverflow.net)
283 points IdealeZahlen | 2 comments | 14 Nov 24 16:28 UTC | HN request time: 0.42s | source
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non- ◴[14 Nov 24 18:26 UTC] No.42139412[source]▶
One thing I've always struggled with Math is keeping track of symbols I don't know the name of yet.

Googling for "Math squiggle that looks like a cursive P" is not a very elegant or convenient way of learning new symbol names.

I wish every proof or equation came with a little table that gave the English pronunciation and some context for each symbol used.

It would make it a lot easier to look up tutorials & ask questions.

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1. layer8 ◴[14 Nov 24 20:02 UTC] No.42140537[source]▶
> Googling for "Math squiggle that looks like a cursive P" is not a very elegant or convenient way of learning new symbol names.

Asking ChatGPT (or the like) is a good solution nowadays though: “The mathematical symbol that resembles a cursive "p" is likely the Weierstrass p, denoted as ℘. […]”

replies(1): >>42140754 #
2. flatline ◴[14 Nov 24 20:21 UTC] No.42140754[source]▶
I asked once and it just gave me “p”. I said “no more fancy like” and it produced the correct result. This is the real power of the model for narrowing search, you can interrogate the results.