SS> I find × more common in the US. But it probably depends on the school
SS> context or discipline/field.
It is common, but I only experienced it in handwriting in k-6, (maybe k-8).
In high school and at uni everyone used · or just juxtaposition.
Okay, at US-American college, all printed instructional materials and
pretty much all instructors (professors and teaching assistants) that I
experienced and that were from the US used ×, according to my memories.
As for juxtaposition: yes (whenever possible), but of course only if
it's not between numbers.
A very weird notation I encountered in the US (and this must be
predominantly K-12 notation, though it survives into a few college-level
text of the "solution manual" type) is to write multiplication as
3(4)(5) = 60
instead of the expected
3 × 4 × 5 = 60
or
3 · 4 · 5 = 60 / 3·4·5 = 60
when teaching arithmetic × was typical, but when teaching elementary
algebra or higher math · was used
I would agree with this. Essentially, it seems like "real" math – to the
extent that it uses numbers beyond {0, 1, 2} in the first place :-) –
uses · , but places where math is used as a tool (K-12 and in my
experience engineering/chem/bio, not entirely sure about physics,
possibly underspecified for CS) are more likely to keep × . But these
assessments are impressionistic, so I didn't elaborate beforehand.
Stephan
