Writing maths

Writing good mathematics helps to clarify your thoughts, as well as helping other people to understand your ideas (including yourself, six months later!).

Here are some tips.

• When you read mathematics, notice how it is written and the level of detail included
• Make your task easier to tackle by breaking it into stages
• Write in sentences, explaining your work carefully and checking that each sentence follows logically on from the previous one
• Always show every step of your working
• Start each new sentence on a new line and give yourself plenty of space to show your working
• Don’t rub out calculations that don’t work, just put a line through them and start again
• Use link words like ‘Hence’, ‘So’ and ‘Therefore’ to help your writing flow
• Use notation correctly. ‘Equals’ signs should only be used if two expressions are equal - they should not be used to link your solution together!
• If you have to write down large numbers, leave a slight gap between groups of three digits to make them easier to read
• Word processing mathematical notation can take a lot of time, even with specialised software. For assignments you may be able to save time by adding the symbols by hand. Check with your tutor
• Check your writing by reading it aloud – when you translate the symbols, it should still make sense!
• Use graphs, charts and tables to summarise data and results clearly.
• Remember to include the units of measurement.

Now have a go at an exercise in writing mathematics.