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Notation

You will be expected to use computer notation to answer some questions on this site, as you need to be very familiar with this notation when taking Massey Mathematics papers.  For each operation shown below we give the mathematical notation used in schools and most text books and typical computer notation used in many software packages.

Operation	Mathematical Notation	Computer Notation	Mathematical Notation Examples	Computer Notation Examples
Addition	+	+	3 + 2 a + b	3+2 a+b
Subtraction	-	-	3 - 2 a - b	3-2 a-b
Multiplication	× or ()()	*	3 × 2 or (3)(2) a × b or (a)(b) or ab	3*2 a*b
Division	÷ or	/	3 ÷ 2  or   a ÷ b  or	3/2 a/b
Powers		^	32 ax	3^2 a^x
Exponential function		exp()	e2, e ex	exp(2), exp(1) exp(x)
Logarithm (base 10)	log	log() see below	log 2 log x	log(2) log(x)
Natural logarithm	ln	ln() see below	ln 2 ln x	ln(2) ln(x)
Square root (positive)		sqrt() or ^0.5		sqrt(32) or 32^0.5 sqrt(x) or x^0.5
Reciprocal		1/ or ^(-1)		1/ 32 or 32^(-1) 1/x or x^(-1)
Sine	sin	sin()	sin p sin x	sin(pi) sin(x)
Cosine	cos	cos()	cos p cos x	cos(pi) cos(x)
Tangent	tan	tan()	tan p tan x	tan(pi) tan(x)

When you have complex expressions, you may need to use brackets to obtain the desired order of operations.  While textbooks may use round, square and curly brackets in an expression, in computer expressions we use only curved brackets, for example, ( expression ).

Examples of expressions in computer notation using brackets:

5^x+2 represents 5^x + 2 whereas 5^(x+2) represents 5^{x + 2}.
(x + 1)/(x + 2) represents whereas x + 1/x + 2 represents x + + 2.
To enter , use exp(a*exp(b)).      is entered as y^(x^2).

Logarithms

Computer notation for logarithms varies from programme to programme. Matlab uses log10() for logarithms to base 10 and log() for natural logarithms whereas Excel uses both log() and log10() for logarithms to base 10 and ln() for natural logarithms.