Mathematics differentiation f prime x or f dash x?

So I've heard people say f'(x) as "F dash x" and some people say it as "F prime x" I've always thought F prime X was the correct way of saying it and one of my teachers tells students off for saying F dash X because dash is this - right?

But I've heard other Maths teachers say F dash X which I thought was wrong? Are they both acceptable or what?

Reply 1

immense010

Both are right. Most academics I've spoken to will use prime, me and all of my fellow students use dash, that being said i've heard academics use dash and students use prime....I would say prime is the "official" way of saying it, whereas dash is the more colloquial way of saying it.

If your teacher tell you off for saying dash beacuse dash is meant for - then I'd say that's ridiculous because otherwise we should say "F apostrophe".

My advice would be to just use whichever comes more naturally, since at the end of the day it's just semantics and doesn't affect any of the maths at all.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

Boucly

The "prime" may be used in other places in mathematics to denote variables of similar usage. For example, c and c-prime for two constants of integrations..Now consider delta-dash and p-prime. Both of these can come up naturally in proofs, and neither sounds good if you are reading out loud.

As mentioned, most mathematicians will know what you mean whichever you use and there are more important things to care about. This is similar to asking how you should write phi -- can I tell it's a phi? Good enough for me.

Reply 3

Jarred

18

Original post by Pecnut

So I've heard people say f'(x) as "F dash x" and some people say it as "F prime x" I've always thought F prime X was the correct way of saying it and one of my teachers tells students off for saying F dash X because dash is this - right?

But I've heard other Maths teachers say F dash X which I thought was wrong? Are they both acceptable or what?

At school all of my four teachers said f dash, at university, most of the people there seemed to say prime.

Both are widely used and perfectly acceptable. It will be clear what you mean with either of the two variations. I always got the feeling that the academic world prefers the use of the term prime but it's all up to what you prefer to say. I say f prime myself, I feel that it makes more sense and sounds better.

Original post by immense010

Both are right. Most academics I've spoken to will use prime, me and all of my fellow students use dash, that being said i've heard academics use dash and students use prime....I would say prime is the "official" way of saying it, whereas dash is the more colloquial way of saying it.

If your teacher tell you off for saying dash beacuse dash is meant for - then I'd say that's ridiculous because otherwise we should say "F apostrophe".

My advice would be to just use whichever comes more naturally, since at the end of the day it's just semantics and doesn't affect any of the maths at all.

I hate to be pedantic :colondollar:

but the prime symbol is actually a completely different symbol to the apostrophe, in the same way that the comma is a completely different symbol to the period. The correct apostrophe looks sort of like a tadpole, whereas a prime is more like an upside down teardrop. Of course, when writing by hand, they will look the same for most of us including myself but in print they should be treated as separate symbols.

Mathematics differentiation f prime x or f dash x?

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