# [texhax] inline form of an equation

Uwe Lück uwe.lueck at web.de
Tue Dec 16 18:51:28 CET 2008

[2008/12/12 repeated without HTML, thanks to Reinhard Kotucha, U. L.]

> On Fri, 12 Dec 2008, Lars Madsen wrote:
>>> Okay, I have:
>>> $\sqrt{\frac{\sum d^2}{2n}}$
>>> Would it be okay to do:
>>> $\sqrt{{\sum d^2}/{2n}}$
>> I don't see any problems with the second one, though some might prefer
>> $\sqrt{\sum d^2/(2n)}$
>
> I typeset $\sqrt{\frac{\sum d^2}{2n}}$ using package nath and the output
> is equivalent to $\sqrt{(\sum d^n)/2n}$ which seems to avoid ambiguity
> about what is being summed.

Indeed, when I thought of the matter while shopping, I had forgotten the first
example and thought \sum(d^2/2n) was ment, \sum binding the variable n.
I haven't done math for a while and only now see that this series diverges,
but it may show that the notation is significantly ambiguous in the way Aditya
says (not with respect to 2n). And even if the reader knows what is meant
from the context, such ambiguities may distract attention.