YES! As a programmer it really annoys me the way mathematicians insist on using single letter variable names. Programmers doing this get laughed out, no exceptions.
Even worse, using the same single letter and adding ` (prime) after it different numbers of times! WHY IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?
I understand a lot of it has to do with blackboards, but this does not apply in a teaching scenario! You do not need to worry about characters-per-minute on the blackboard until everyone in the room is a maths prostgrad. Don't inflict that shit on me and my fellow computational complexity students. Any minor ergonomic gains are offset by that fact that half the room has no fucking idea what is being written about.
edit: the WORST thing is when all the single-letter variable names are letters that RHYME. e, c, d, p, g. There are other letters dammit! We're not all on your end of the autistic spectrum! Have some consideration!
Even worse, using the same single letter and adding ` (prime) after it different numbers of times! WHY IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?
I understand a lot of it has to do with blackboards, but this does not apply in a teaching scenario! You do not need to worry about characters-per-minute on the blackboard until everyone in the room is a maths prostgrad. Don't inflict that shit on me and my fellow computational complexity students. Any minor ergonomic gains are offset by that fact that half the room has no fucking idea what is being written about.
edit: the WORST thing is when all the single-letter variable names are letters that RHYME. e, c, d, p, g. There are other letters dammit! We're not all on your end of the autistic spectrum! Have some consideration!