Advanced Search

Unary vs. Binary Negation Signs

rlopez 3010 Maple
June 26 2023
7

Some texts distinguish between unary and binary negation signs, using short dashes for unary negation and a longer dash for binary subtraction. How important is this distinction to users of Maple?

Some earlier versions of Maple used to have short dashes for negation (in some places). Maple 2023 has apparently abandoned the short dash for unary negation, and all such signs are now a long dash.

How about math books? Do all texts make this short-long distinction? The typesetters for my 2001 Advanced Engineering Math book also opted for all long dashes and that book was set from the LaTeX exported from Maple 20+ years ago. But I also have texts in my library that use a short dash for unary negation, on the grounds that -a, the additive inverse of "a" is a complete symbol unto itself, the short dash being part of the symbol for that additive inverse.

Apparently, this issue bugs me. Am I making a tempest in a teapot?

Please Wait...