A microblog post by @kareem_carr saying “as soon as i saw they were using asterisks for multiplication symbols, i knew we were in trouble”, with an image from the “Office of the United States Trade Representative (Executive Office of the President)” showing the mathematical formula $\Delta \tau_i = \frac{x_i - m_i}{\varepsilon * \varphi * m_i}$. The formula show asterisks (*) instead of multiplication signs (×).
Most mathematicians, engineers, and scientists don’t use the asterisk symbol for multiplication. Most don’t write any symbol as it’s implicit. If they do use a symbol they would use a dot or x symbol (though never an actual x). In mathematics, the asterisk is mostly only used to represent convolutions.
Most common:
abc
Less common:
a • b • c
a × b × c
Never:
a * b * c
While to most people this doesn’t really matter (and should feel free using * for multiplication). It shows someone with minimal formal experience in mathematics using this formula
I think this is true ONLY in formal writing, which this document clearly intends to be despite it’s complete inanity. Asterisks are used in computer code for multiplication and shorthand messages/emails all the time. Not many scientists/engineers/mathematicians out there that can’t write at least an excel formula
I don’t know, to me a * b * c is basically just the exact same as a • b • c but just easier to type on a computer. If you were writing it down on paper or a black board they would probably use dots. Coding often uses * because who wants to type in those dots would be a pain in the ass and the * basically looks the closest to a dot.
But they weren’t just “typing it on a computer”, they were typesetting it in latex, and trying to make it look grandiose. But they just showed to everyone in the know that they don’t know what they’re doing.
Yeah, asterisk to indicate multiplication is much, much more common amongst coders.
… And script kiddie DOGE interns.
When I went to college the dot was used for the dot product (scalar product) of two vectors while the cross was used for the cross product (vector product) of two vectors.
Since in this case numbers (read: one-dimensional vectors) are multiplied, the dot product is used, which should be denoted by a dot.
(But really, if I were to write a formula in Latex I would just use the * symbol, too.)
What if it’s a convolution though 🤔
I would love to explain, but it’s pretty convoluted