Timeline for Is the notation ${}^t g$ for the transpose of a linear transformation intended to be suggestive?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 19, 2014 at 23:22 | comment | added | KConrad | Frank, it's because the superscript is appearing on the left side, which looks wrong at first. At least this is the reasoning I made up when I first saw it. I never discussed it with anyone. | |
| Oct 19, 2014 at 17:46 | comment | added | Frank Thorne | @KConrad: Would you please elaborate? Your answer rings true, but I'm unsure of why the notation is supposed to remind me that transpose reverses the order. | |
| Oct 19, 2014 at 2:21 | comment | added | KConrad | I always regarded the placement of it to the left as a reminder that the transpose reverses the order of multiplication. Differential geometers write coordinates as $x^i$, so I never thought that it would be confused with an exponent when it's in the upper right (since the reader ought to know what the context is). | |
| Oct 19, 2014 at 2:03 | comment | added | Suvrit | @GeraldEdgar: I see, that's where it comes from! | |
| Oct 18, 2014 at 23:41 | comment | added | Gerald Edgar | I think the left t is the Bourbaki choice. | |
| Oct 18, 2014 at 23:35 | comment | added | Suvrit | I guess to highlight that transposition itself is a linear operation, so it makes "pedantic" sense to have it appear before (though I find it grotesque, rather than "highbrow")... | |
| Oct 18, 2014 at 23:25 | answer | added | Bjørn Kjos-Hanssen | timeline score: 3 | |
| Oct 18, 2014 at 23:17 | comment | added | Robert Bryant | I don't know about 'highbrow', but putting it on the left keeps it from being confused with exponentiation. | |
| Oct 18, 2014 at 23:08 | history | asked | Frank Thorne | CC BY-SA 3.0 |