CHAPTER 2

SPEAKING
MATHEMATICALLY
Objectives:

At the end of this module, the students should be

able to:

• Discuss the language, symbols, and conventions

of mathematics
• Explain the nature of mathematics as a language
• Perform operations on mathematical expressions
correctly
• Acknowledge that mathematics is a useful
language
LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS
Characteristics of the Language of Mathematics

• precise
- able to make very fine distinctions
• concise
- able to say things briefly
• powerful
-able to express complex thoughts with relative ease
LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS
LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS
••
Numbers have lots of different names
Example:
5
2+3
10 2
(6 – 2) + 1
1+1+1+1+1
LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS
EXERCISE 1
The number ‘ten’ has lots of different names.
Give names satisfying the following
properties.
a) the ‘standard’ name
b) a name using a plus sign, +
c) a name using a minus sign, −
d) a name using a division sign, ÷
LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS
• Mathematical sentences have verbs.
Example:
3+4=7
“three plus four is equal to seven”
Verb: “=“
VARIABLES
In mathematics, an object that is
allowed to vary is appropriately called a
variable.
A variable is a symbol (often a letter)
that is used to represent a member of a
specified set. This ‘specified set’ is
referred to by mathematicians as the
universal set.
USES OF VARIABLES
•Variable as a Placeholder
1) You imagine that it has one or more values but
you don’t know what they are
Example:
Is there a number with the following property:
doubling it and adding 3 gives the same result as
squaring it?
Use variables instead of using “it”:
Is there a number x with the property that 2x + 3
=?
Example:
2x + 4 = 10
To find for the solution, a number (here denoted by
‘x’) must be found that has the following property:
when it is doubled (multiplied by 2), and 4 is added
to it, the result is 10.
2x + 4 = 10
2x = 6
x=3
Hence, the solution is just the same for 2y + 4 = 10
and 2t + 4 = 10.
•
S=
s = speed, d = distance, t = time

Area of a Rectangle
A=lxw
l = length, w = width
USES OF VARIABLES
•2)You want whatever you say about it to be
equally true for all elements in a given set, and so
you don’t want to be restricted to considering only
a particular, concrete value for it.
Example:
No matter what number might be chosen, if it is
greater than 2, then its square is greater than 4.

No matter what number n might be chosen, if n is

greater than 2, is greater than 4.
USES OF VARIABLES
Example 1 Writing Sentences Using Variables
•Use variables to rewrite the following sentences more
formally.
a. Are there numbers with the property that the sum of
their squares equals the square of their sum?
• Are there numbers a and b with the property that ?
• Are there numbers a and b such that ?
• Do there exist any numbers a and b such that ?
•
b. Given any real number, its square is
nonnegative.
• Given any real number r, is
nonnegative.
• For any real number r, .
• For all real numbers r, .
Some Important Kinds of Mathematical Statements
• A universal statement says that a certain property is true
for all elements in a set.
(For example: All positive numbers are greater than zero.)

• A conditional statement says that if one thing is true

then some other things also has to be true.
(For example: If 378 is divisible by 18, then 378 is divisible
by 6.)

• Given a property that may or not may not be true, an

existential statement says that there is at least one thing
for which the property is true.
(For example: There is a prime number that is even.)
Universal Conditional Statements

Universal statements contain some variation of the words

“for all” and conditional statements contain versions of the
words “if-then”. A universal conditional statement is a
statement that is both universal and conditional.
Examples:
• For all animals a, if a is a dog, then a is mammal.
• If a is a dog, then a is a mammal.
• If an animal is a dog, then the animal is a mammal.
• For all dogs a, a is a mammal.
• All dogs are mammals.
Example 2 Rewriting a Universal Conditional Statement
•Fillin the blanks to rewrite the following statement:
For all real numbers x, if x is nonzero then is
positive.
a. If a real number is nonzero, then its square is
_______.
- If a real number is nonzero, then its square is
positive.
b. For all nonzero real numbers x,
__________________.
- For all nonzero real numbers x, is positive.
Example 2 Rewriting a Universal Conditional Statement
•c. If x _____________________; then ___________.
- If x is a nonzero real number; then is positive.
d. The square of any nonzero real number is
________.
- The square of any nonzero real number is positive.
e. All nonzero real numbers have ________________.
- All nonzero real numbers have positive squares.
Universal Existential Statements

A universal existential statement is a statement that

is universal because its first part says that a certain
property is true for all objects of a given type, and it is
existential because its second part asserts the
existence of something.
• Every real number has an additive inverse.
• All real numbers have additive inverses.
• For all real numbers r, there is an additive inverse for
r.
• For all real numbers r, there is a real number s such
that s is an additive inverse.
Example 3 Rewriting a Universal Existential
Statement
Fill in the blanks to rewrite the following
statement: Every pot has a lid.
a. All pots _______.
- All pots have lids.
b. For all pots P, there is ________.
- For all pots P, there is a lid for P.
c. For all pots, there is a lid L such that
___________.
- For all pots, there is a lid L such that L is a lid
for P.
Existential Universal Statements

•An existential universal statement is a statement that is

existential because its first part asserts that a certain object exists
and is universal because its second part says that the object
satisfies a certain property for all things of a certain kind.
• There is a positive integer that is less than or equal to every
positive integer.
• Some positive integer is less than or equal to every positive
integer.
• There is a positive integer m that is less than or equal to every
positive integer.
• There is a positive integer m such that every positive integer is
greater than or equal to m.
• There is a positive integer m with the property that for all positive
integers n, mn.
Example 4 Rewriting an Existential Universal
Statement
Fill in the blanks to rewrite the following statement in three different
ways:
There is a person in my class ho is at least as old as every person in
my class.
a. Some ___________ is at least as old as ___________________.
- Some person in my class is at least as old as every person in my
class.
b. There is a person p in my class such that p is ________________.
- There is a person p in my class such that p is at least as old as
every person in my class.
c. There is a person p in my class with the property that for every
person q in my class, p is ________________.
- There is a person p in my class with the property that for every person
q in my class, p is at least as old as q.