Timeline for $\frac{dy}{dx}$ versus $\frac{{\mathrm d}y}{{\mathrm d}x}$
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 31, 2022 at 14:16 | comment | added | barbara beeton | @MichaelE2 -- The original AMS-TeX did not use an upright d; it followed the US tradition, and Knuth, by use of the italic. See the manual on CTAN, for example page 18 (xviii). | |
| Dec 17, 2017 at 15:29 | comment | added | Michael E2 | As for Knuth, AFAIR, he was using a TeX precursor in the late 70s, just about the time the New York Times stopped typesetting the newspaper. I don't know what printing communities he studied or how thoroughly, but certainly it was pre-TeX :), likely was mainly mathematical, probably mostly in US/Europe (many leading journals in math are European and well-known to US academics and always have been), and included hand-set type. I think ISO-31 & the LaTeX/AMSTeX control sequence for upright d are contributing to the spread of the upright d/e. Hard to know how typesetting will evolve. | |
| Dec 17, 2017 at 15:25 | comment | added | Michael E2 | Upright for "exp" and italic for "e" is traditional. When you have several letters in a row forming a small block, the tradition has been to set them in the upright font. For $e^x$, it is viewed as basic algebra, like $2^3$, $b^x$, $x^n$, etc. One can distinguish $e$ from $b$ as a particular constant and decide it's better to set them in distinct types. I've seen $e$ both ways throughout the world, and some journals seem to accept both and leave it to the authors, including European ones. In math., it seems italic $e$ and $dx$ are more common as especially as you go back in time. | |
| Nov 29, 2017 at 20:36 | comment | added | juanrga | @MichaelE2 Does Knuth TeXbook represent standard usages? I don't know if Knuth studied typesetting only in mathematical literature and ignored physicist/engineering literature (where standards are often different) and I don't know if Knuth studied European mathematical literature or only American literature when developed typesetting rules for Tex. Note as well that Knuth is inconsistent, because in the TeXbook he uses upright font for $\exp x$ (via the command \exp), but italic for its shorthand $e^x$. You find often $\mathrm{e}^x$ on European mathematical literature. | |
| Nov 22, 2017 at 6:36 | review | Low quality posts | |||
| Nov 22, 2017 at 13:31 | |||||
| Nov 21, 2017 at 21:22 | comment | added | Michael E2 | Note your physics.nist ref cites ISO-31 (1992), which is the earliest reference I know. I believe that was wehn the roman d became a standard, but I can't say that I know that. In the TeX Book (Knuth, 1984/86), uses the traditional $dx$. Knuth studied typesetting for the development of TeX, so I think one might conclude that the use of ${\mathrm d}x$ is not a standard before that. | |
| Nov 21, 2017 at 18:48 | review | First posts | |||
| Nov 22, 2017 at 6:34 | |||||
| Nov 21, 2017 at 18:45 | history | answered | juanrga | CC BY-SA 3.0 |