On 11/16/09 10:33, Invisible wrote:
>> 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?

	I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has used it to mean 
the reciprocal of the sine. Perhaps that's why they defined the cosecant?

> 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...

	Go back far enough, and it always meant base e. I wonder when ln(x) 
notation cropped up.

	If it doesn't matter what base it is, then it'd be "obvious" from the 
context.

> 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.

	You're missing some exclamation symbols.


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