Expert: Scott A Wilson - 12/20/2010

Question
QUESTION: Dear Sir,

I am looking for any articles on the uses of the preposition "of" in mathematics. I once read in a teacher's edition of a pre-algebra textbook that suggested students should be taught, as early as possible, the many uses of the preposition "of" in mathematics, but I have been unable to find anything on this particular question/topic. Could you please try to find something for me?

Yours respectfully,
Rob

ANSWER: The most common use is f(x) is said to be "f of x".
So if f(x) = 5x - 7, f(11) = 55 - 7 = 48.
Thus, 48 is said to be "f of 11".


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Sir,

In the most common usage f(x) which is an abbreviation for "f of x" does "f" express possession of "x" the same way the owner expresses possession of the house in "the owner of the house;" or is "f" being possessed by "x" the way the house is being possessed by the owner in "the house of the owner."

Yours respectfully,
Rob

Answer
I'm not sure you wanted a reply or not, but here goes one for fun.

Like, one for fun
does rhyme in time
to answer this - you get the gist?

Yet that's just my silly old rhyming self ...

To look at in a different light, f(x) is a random value.
Let's say, for this example, that f(x) = 5x + 3.
If x = 7, it can be said that f(7) = 35 + 3 = 38, so 7, when f(x) is applied, owns 38.


If f(x) = 2x, then all of the evens belong to any integer input,
but that's just abstractly and in a different form.