this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2025
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I don't get the significance. How should the formula be represented?
Most mathematicians, engineers, and scientists don’t use the asterisk symbol for multiplication. Most don’t write any symbol as it’s implicit. If they do use a symbol they would use a dot or x symbol (though never an actual x). In mathematics, the asterisk is mostly only used to represent convolutions.
Most common:
abc
Less common:
a • b • c
a × b × c
Never:
a * b * c
While to most people this doesn’t really matter (and should feel free using * for multiplication). It shows someone with minimal formal experience in mathematics using this formula
I think this is true ONLY in formal writing, which this document clearly intends to be despite it's complete inanity. Asterisks are used in computer code for multiplication and shorthand messages/emails all the time. Not many scientists/engineers/mathematicians out there that can't write at least an excel formula