Christian Lawson-Perfect at 09:41, 15 July 2021

2021-07-15T09:41:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:41, 15 July 2021
Line 1:		Line 1:
	[[Category:Ambiguities]]		[[Category:Ambiguities]]
	[[Category:Handwriting]]		[[Category:Handwriting]]
			[[Category:Unspoken conventions]]

	A square root is often shown with a radical symbol: \( \sqrt{x} \). The top line is drawn as wide as it needs to be to cover the whole radicand:		A square root is often shown with a radical symbol: \( \sqrt{x} \). The top line is drawn as wide as it needs to be to cover the whole radicand:
Line 15:		Line 16:

	\[ a\sqrt{x^2+2x+1} \]		\[ a\sqrt{x^2+2x+1} \]

			However, when the radical contains a single letter or number, it's more common to put the radical on the left:

			\[ \sqrt{2} \sin x \]

			See [[The order of factors matters even when they commute]]

Christian Lawson-Perfect: Created page with "Category:Ambiguities Category:Handwriting A square root is often shown with a radical symbol: \( \sqrt{x} \). The top line is drawn as wide as it needs to be to cover..."

2021-07-02T08:56:35Z

Created page with "Category:Ambiguities Category:Handwriting A square root is often shown with a radical symbol: \( \sqrt{x} \). The top line is drawn as wide as it needs to be to cover..."

New page

[[Category:Ambiguities]]
[[Category:Handwriting]]

A square root is often shown with a radical symbol: \( \sqrt{x} \). The top line is drawn as wide as it needs to be to cover the whole radicand:

\[ \sqrt{x^2 + 2x + 1} \]

But it can be easy to misinterpret an expression where there's something on the right of the radical:

\[ \sqrt{x^2 + 2x + 1}a \]

This is particularly problematic in handwriting.

The usual way of resolving this is to put the other thing on the left instead:

\[ a\sqrt{x^2+2x+1} \]

Something on the right of a radical - Revision history

Christian Lawson-Perfect at 09:41, 15 July 2021

Christian Lawson-Perfect: Created page with "Category:Ambiguities Category:Handwriting A square root is often shown with a radical symbol: \( \sqrt{x} \). The top line is drawn as wide as it needs to be to cover..."