>> Just for giggles: how many meanings can you find for "normal"?
> 
> Sure.

Because it's not just the notations that are ambiguous - it's the 
language as well!

> But even differences between things like
> 
>  sin x^-1  vs   sin^-1 x
> 
> where the two "^-1" mean entirely different operations.

The first one, at least, is unambiguous. But the second one? Now do you 
suppose that's the arcsine of x? Or the reciprocol of the sine of x?

Good luck with that one.

> Similarly with
> 
>   lg^2 X  vs  lg X^2
> 
> Drove me nuts, as I learned computers before I learned all this 
> higher-level math.

And then of course, people will write "log x". Wanna take a guess which 
base that is? Now, sometimes it actually doesn't matter which base. And 
if it does, it *probably* means the natural logarithm. Probably...

Speaking of which, the base of natural logarithms is "e". And sometimes 
"e" means 1 + 1/1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4... And sometimes "e" is just another 
variable.

Hell, I've seen formulas where pi does *not* refer to the well-known 
transcendental number!

Doomed, DOOMED, WE'RE ALL DOOMED! >_<

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