Resolved:

[zwol]

that without it we still have plenty of symbols, all of which are easier to write, and therefore the use of ξ in mathematics should be abolished.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

Heh. Having just written a computational fluid-mechanics document over a hundred pages long, discussing a wide range of theoretical approaches -- I would heartily dispute the fact that we have plenty of symbols.

But, yeah, it is annoyingly difficult to write. The 15 minutes I spent on practicing it one day have served me well, but I still have to think about it.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

It's a particular shibboleth of mine, all the way back to freshman physics, where I remember asking the professor 'What is that squiggle you seem to be using as a variable?'

I think I have more than usual trouble writing it because the motor program for open curly brace interferes.

[brooksmoses]

Hmm. My problem with it is that it feels backwards, compared to most the curves in the rest of my handwriting. I think what's going on there is that the places where the details of the curves matter are completely different from most of the usual ones -- not to mention the fact that it sets up this pattern of having sharp counterclockwise just-past-a-cusp loops for the top two right-hand "points", and then breaks it with the not-sharp clockwise curve for the bottom one. I kept getting into a pattern and not breaking it right.

[echristo.livejournal.com]

hallelujah brother.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I once annoyed my advisor by using a smiley face in its stead, with the substitution noted at the beginning, so that I could simply sub in that particular symbol once at the end and be done. My point was that you can call variables whatever you like, and the math will come out the same. His point was that he was not at all used to looking for "the smiley-face squared term" etc.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Now I'm imagining the world where the mathematicicans have taken smiley face and its relatives for yet another set of symbols with conventional meaning.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I believe their Sparkly Unicorn Technology is far ahead of ours.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

If we're to abolish the use of that particular little square in mathematics, some of our browsers will have to be upgraded.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Lowercase xi.

[weinberg.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

Yes. Not only do you have to stop and think every time you write it, but it makes me think of a snake that's about to strike.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

I protest! Snakes are k3wl.

[(Anonymous)]

It was quite common in my undergrad courses that people (inc. TAs, professors, etc.) would write that symbol by just literally scribbling back and forth a bit. Since no other symbol is written by scribbling back and forth for a bit, this was unambiguous, even if the particular tokens produced did not look much like each other.

Somehow, I can write it quickly and easily, but only if I don't think about it.

-- Nathaniel