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I mean this in the most genuinely curious and interested way possible.... but if you're doing geometry or trig... do you refer to it as "math" because you're ju

I mean this in the most genuinely curious and interested way possible.... but if you're doing geometry or trig... do you refer to it as "math" because you're just doing one type of mathematics? Is there every a point where it isn't plural. Is even 2+2=4 referred to as "maths". I think its funny that terms like math v maths come about very organically and then after the fact everyone feels the need to back into a reasoning that was likely never there. Obviously neither are wrong because they are the "correct" way for a given dialect/region etc.

denton-scratch 3y ago
> Is even 2+2=4 referred to as "maths" No, that's arithmetic (which is always singular, amusingly).
- code_runner 3y ago
  isn't arithmetic a branch of mathematics? i guess a mathematic?
ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
Here in the UK, it's just called maths or mathematics and the term "math" is never used (or at least I can't think of an example). I find it generally amusing to examine the differences between U.S. and British English and quite often get confused over whether I should be using "licence" or "license". It's the little quirks of language/spelling that make it interesting. (Though english, I'm a big fan of some of the U.S. contractions such as "y'all'd've")
karmakaze 3y ago
> Obviously neither are wrong because they are the "correct" way for a given dialect/region etc. I would say "math" is an objectively better shortening of "mathematics" as it preserves the singular collective meaning than "maths" which preserves more of the incidental textual form.
nobody9999 3y ago
>I think its funny that terms like math v maths come about very organically and then after the fact everyone feels the need to back into a reasoning that was likely never there. Obviously neither are wrong because they are the "correct" way for a given dialect/region etc. We Americans use the phrase "do the math," which means to go figure something out, not necessarily arithmetically. Is there a similar phrase for the Brits? As in "do the maths?" Which seems unlikely. As such, I'd expect those using British style English to have different phrase for the same thing. Is that the case? If so, what might it be?
- foldr 3y ago
  We just say 'do the math'. But yes, it's an American phrase. There's no direct British equivalent.

denton-scratch 3y ago

> Is even 2+2=4 referred to as "maths" No, that's arithmetic (which is always singular, amusingly).

code_runner 3y ago
isn't arithmetic a branch of mathematics? i guess a mathematic?

ndsipa_pomu 3y ago

Here in the UK, it's just called maths or mathematics and the term "math" is never used (or at least I can't think of an example). I find it generally amusing to examine the differences between U.S. and British English and quite often get confused over whether I should be using "licence" or "license". It's the little quirks of language/spelling that make it interesting. (Though english, I'm a big fan of some of the U.S. contractions such as "y'all'd've")

karmakaze 3y ago

> Obviously neither are wrong because they are the "correct" way for a given dialect/region etc. I would say "math" is an objectively better shortening of "mathematics" as it preserves the singular collective meaning than "maths" which preserves more of the incidental textual form.

nobody9999 3y ago

>I think its funny that terms like math v maths come about very organically and then after the fact everyone feels the need to back into a reasoning that was likely never there. Obviously neither are wrong because they are the "correct" way for a given dialect/region etc. We Americans use the phrase "do the math," which means to go figure something out, not necessarily arithmetically. Is there a similar phrase for the Brits? As in "do the maths?" Which seems unlikely. As such, I'd expect those using British style English to have different phrase for the same thing. Is that the case? If so, what might it be?

foldr 3y ago
We just say 'do the math'. But yes, it's an American phrase. There's no direct British equivalent.