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Awms A
Lv 7
Awms A asked in Science & MathematicsMathematics · 1 decade ago

LCD? A question about notation?

So I'm well aware of the lack of consensus in what notation to use...

We have lcm(x,y) = [x,y] = x v y

and we have gcd(x,y) = gcf(x,y) = (x,y) = x ^ y.

I mean, I could even understand sup(x,y) for the first and inf(x,y) for the second, if we're defining them in terms of the divisor lattice.

However, there is one notation that I personally find to be incorrect:

LCD(x,y) = Least Common Denominator of x and y

to mean the same as the least common multiple of x and y.

(for supporting evidence, note http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/denominator )

So finally to the question (actually a few):

(1) What notation do you use?

(2) What country do you live in?

and the more important one for me:

(3) Do you know of any textbooks which use the notation LCD(x,y) to mean the least element such that both x and y divide it?

(And before anyone says it, yes I know that one needs to find the least common multiple of the denominators to compute the least common denominator - note the difference in semantics though)

1 Answer

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  • Tony
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    (1) I use [x,y] and (x,y) for the lcm and gcd, respectively, if it is clear from the context that we are doing number theory. To avoid possible confusion, I use lcm(x,y) and gcd(x,y).

    (2) USA

    (3) I don't know of any such text, but textbooks for mathematics education majors often contain such nonsense.

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