On the Need for New Mathematical Characters

The great symbols of mathematics and science, π, φ, θ, ω, Δ to name a few, almost all come from the Ancient Greek Language. The problem is that many of these have multiple meanings. For example, α is not just the fine structure constant, but it is also the alpha particle, angle of attack in aerodynamics, as well as other denotations. Wouldn’t it be easier if alpha was just the fine structure constant? I believe it would for one who has studied many aspects of science, and been confused.

But where are we to get more characters and how can we change our old ones? I understand that changing them, for example making Euler’s gamma (γ) constant something different because there are gamma rays is unrealistic, but it would be nice. So, if were have heretofore used all the Greek letters at least thrice in many cases, what are we to do when new operations, constants, etc. become added to mathematics? The best answer is to have new symbols. But where are they to come from?

Hitherto Greek has almost always been used as the language of math and science. There are exceptions though. For example, the continuum hypothesis uses aleph (אּ) for Cantor believed it would teach him something about god. Yet where are we to turn from here? I believe that we should use characters from another ancient language. The first potential suitor is Sanskrit. This is because the Indians first developed the number system that that Arabs borrowed that has come down to us as the “Arabic numerals.” So, if the Greeks and the Indians were the foremost mathematicians of antiquity is it not most sensible to incorporate both into the current mathematical language. Yet the Sanskrit characters are quite difficult to form due to their intricacy. Some examples are as follows: ॡ, इ, ॠ and ओ. I can neither read nor pronounce these, and I am positive I cannot form them with any accuracy. Also, the language is foreign to an extreme majority of the population, and probably especially to mathematicians for they work with numbers and not with languages. Computers help lessen this barrier, but that does not by any means solve the problem.

So if Sanskrit is not a viable option, let us examine the Arabic language. It is a language whose speakers have contributed considerably to mathematics. Yet again, the language is exceedingly intricate, and the fact that it is a series of lines and the characters are not as distinct as in Greek, English or Sanskrit. So if Arabic will not work where ought we to turn?

Another ancient language that comes to mind is Hebrew. The Hebrew characters are only moderately intricate, they are written from right to left thought. However, they are closes in structure to the Latin characters and can be formed (I do not want to bring up the point that a significant percentage of mathematicians are Jewish, but it is an interesting fact. However, there are at most 20 millions Jews worldwide, and figure at most and extremely exaggerated figure, for say 35 million people are at least acquainted with the Hebrew characters. 35 millions out of 6.2 billion is not a considerable percentage.) Yet another problem arises. Hebrew as a read language uses the uppercase characters and the written uses a cursive script. Which characters would be used? This is more of a curse than a blessing, and would be confusing to those who use Hebrew (Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv are becoming budding intellectual centers). Worse of all, Hebrew has a religious connotation, and the Muslims may not allow Hebrew to be used as the language of mathematics due to their hatred of the Jews. Hebrew may be the best bet so far, but beyond a few more inclusions by mathematicians specifically, it is not likely to be a good candidate for the new language of mathematical characters.

So what does that leave us with? Chinese would be a good bet, but mathematicians deal with numbers and are not calligraphers. Farsi is in the same boat is Arabic, and Japanese is in the same as Chinese. One interest possibility is to use some of the super-ancient languages, for example Cuneiform, Biblical Hebrew, Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, or any other language that was in existence at the dawn of history. Regardless, it would behoove the mathematical community to decide on some new characters to use to classify forthcoming mathematical and scientific constants, equations, and anything else used in the language of mathematics.