Title :
What is an Equation?
Author :
Marcus, Svoboda ; Watt, Stephen M.
Author_Institution :
Romanian Acad. of Sci., Bucharest, Romania
Abstract :
The equation concept is one of the most fundamental in mathematics, yet the word "equation" means different things to different people. It is used not only with various precise technical meanings, but also as a metaphor for complex situations. We review some of the history of the equation and its present meaning and use in a variety of settings. Although some languages make distinctions among ideas such equations that are always satisfied versus those that may not be, or between equations with variables and relations without, we observe that it may not be possible to decide into which of these cases a particular equality falls.
Keywords :
equations; mathematical analysis; complex situations; equality; equation concept; mathematics; precise technical meanings; Algebra; Databases; Dictionaries; Equations; Europe; History; equation; history of mathematics; mathematical terminology; mathematical translation;
Conference_Titel :
Symbolic and Numeric Algorithms for Scientific Computing (SYNASC), 2012 14th International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Timisoara
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-5026-6
DOI :
10.1109/SYNASC.2012.79
