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Mathematical Writing
Do you need help getting started as an individual or as a member of a group facing the need to prepare formal documents? This is an all-out attack on the problem of teaching people the art of mathematical writing. Learn how others have made use of student assistants in ways that benefit all parties. Read how feedback from students supplies early warning signals from instructors, as well as helping students clarify their thought processes. This book will give aid and encouragement to those wishing to teach a course in technical writing, or to those who wish to write themselves.
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Donald Ervin Knuth
107 books725 followersDonald Ervin Knuth, born January 10th 1938, is a renowned computer scientist and Professor Emeritus of the Art of Computer Programming at Stanford University.
Author of the seminal multi-volume work The Art of Computer Programming ("TAOCP"), Knuth has been called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms, contributing to the development of, and systematizing formal mathematical techniques for, the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms, and in the process popularizing asymptotic notation.
In addition to fundamental contributions in several branches of theoretical computer science, Knuth is the creator of the TeX computer typesetting system, the related METAFONT font definition language and rendering system, and the Computer Modern family of typefaces.
A prolific writer and scholar, Knuth created the WEB/CWEB computer programming systems designed to encourage and facilitate literate programming, and designed the MMIX instruction set architecture.
Author of the seminal multi-volume work The Art of Computer Programming ("TAOCP"), Knuth has been called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms, contributing to the development of, and systematizing formal mathematical techniques for, the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms, and in the process popularizing asymptotic notation.
In addition to fundamental contributions in several branches of theoretical computer science, Knuth is the creator of the TeX computer typesetting system, the related METAFONT font definition language and rendering system, and the Computer Modern family of typefaces.
A prolific writer and scholar, Knuth created the WEB/CWEB computer programming systems designed to encourage and facilitate literate programming, and designed the MMIX instruction set architecture.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 13, 2016
"I don’t want input; I don’t want you to tell me if I’m doing anything wrong. Heavens forbid. But, I write a scene and I think I’ve heard it as much as I can, but then when I read it to you – I don’t give it to you to read, I read it – but when I read it to you, I hear it through your ears." ~ Quentin Tarantino
That is a good distillation of these lecture notes by Knuth. Technical writing, as much of human language, is not a rigorous set of rules as linguists or English teachers would have you believe but instead a contextual set of probabilistic dependencies that shifts as we use it in the real world. Good writing is absolutely necessary and at the same time a complete pain in the ass for all parties involved in the process, mostly because our language is so contextual. Absolute precision needed for mathematics while keeping it readable is difficult and the great thing about these notes is they absolutely stick with you after the first read. All are presented in a logical set of axioms that build on each other broken up with just enough humour to keep you awake.
"The third solution was the DiJKSTra system, so named to keep it sufficiently Dutch." ~ Don Knuth
That is a good distillation of these lecture notes by Knuth. Technical writing, as much of human language, is not a rigorous set of rules as linguists or English teachers would have you believe but instead a contextual set of probabilistic dependencies that shifts as we use it in the real world. Good writing is absolutely necessary and at the same time a complete pain in the ass for all parties involved in the process, mostly because our language is so contextual. Absolute precision needed for mathematics while keeping it readable is difficult and the great thing about these notes is they absolutely stick with you after the first read. All are presented in a logical set of axioms that build on each other broken up with just enough humour to keep you awake.
"The third solution was the DiJKSTra system, so named to keep it sufficiently Dutch." ~ Don Knuth
October 8, 2025
The current text contains excessive deliberation on various stylistic norms. Just state the principle and move on.
A specific point of contention: Don's asserts that logical symbols should almost always be replaced with natural language equivalents. This practice is detrimental to mathematical precision. Logical symbols completely disambiguate the author's intended meaning, and as such, they should almost always be favoured over natural language alternatives. For example, authors use 'if ... then' in definitions to mean 'if and only if' leaving readers confused as to what is really meant, if they were to use \rightarrow, and \iff the situation would be much improved.
A specific point of contention: Don's asserts that logical symbols should almost always be replaced with natural language equivalents. This practice is detrimental to mathematical precision. Logical symbols completely disambiguate the author's intended meaning, and as such, they should almost always be favoured over natural language alternatives. For example, authors use 'if ... then' in definitions to mean 'if and only if' leaving readers confused as to what is really meant, if they were to use \rightarrow, and \iff the situation would be much improved.
April 21, 2019
The topic is presented by a bunch of rules and examples. The whole content is entertaining and many passages made me smile a lot. I have enjoyed the style very much.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews