Questions about parentheses, brackets

[Dirk.nl]

Hi All,

I have questions (not directly for the HP Prime, but for my understanding) about the use of the words "parentheses" and "brackets".
Has these words the same meaning? When do you use the word "parentheses" and when "brackets" ?
Has these words the same general meaning for (), [], < > and {} ?
I know, I think, rounded brackets are (), square brackets are [], angle brackets are < > and braces are {}. Is this correct? Can I, for instance above, replace the word brackets with parentheses?
Thanks in advance!

[jte]

On this side of the pond (Canada / U.S.), typically

() = parentheses,
[] = brackets (or, to disambiguate from angle brackets, square brackets),
<> = angle brackets (more properly, poor man's / ASCII angle brackets), and
{} = braces.

Angle brackets are a bit exotic here. (More than a few people are unfamiliar with them and would [try to, at least initially] interpret them as less-than and greater-than symbols, especially the ASCII versions.)

[Dirk.nl]

jte, thanks for your answer, great!

[TravisE]

Just thought I'd mention that sometimes the term “brackets” is used generally to refer to all of those types of brackets and braces, including parentheses. Other times, it's used to refer specifically to [ ]. “Parentheses” normally refers specifically to ( ).

[StephenG1CMZ]

For readers whose first language is not English, it might be worth noting the words have non-mathematical uses too.

In English, one might mention an unimportant detail (like this one) in a parenthetical note. One never refers to a "bracketical" note. Normally, () are used for this.

Perhaps more importantly, brackets can be real things - used to affix a TV to a wall, for example. Something to bear in mind before asking your students to remove all unneccessary brackets ?

[Dirk.nl]

Thanks TravisE and Stephan.

[cyrille de brébisson]

Hello,

Interestingly, in France, we have neither {} nor [] in our traditional character set.

() are called 'parentheses' and are used in the same way as in English.

<< >> are 'accolades' (note that although I wrote them here using the > and < symbols, the double forms are characters on their own, separate from the < and > symbols)

< and > are only used for math with the usual meaning.
Curly braces are sometimes used, but only in the opening form, either on the left, or on the top or bottom to englobe a set. Like for the peicewise template, or for repeating items (like when you try to explain multiplication, which is an addition that repeats n times)...

If you ever purchase a french keyboard, you will see that the {} and [] are truly addition, 3rd characters on keys using a special shift.
If you purchase a mac keyboard, they simply are not there!!!! Basically, you can not program on a French mac keyboard!

Cheers,
Cyrille

[Dirk.nl]

I have found an article about brackets with different names for it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket

Thanks all for your information!

[retoa]

(10-10-2016 05:14 AM)cyrille de brébisson Wrote:  Hello,

Interestingly, in France, we have neither {} nor [] in our traditional character set.

() are called 'parentheses' and are used in the same way as in English.

<< >> are 'accolades' (note that although I wrote them here using the > and < symbols, the double forms are characters on their own, separate from the < and > symbols)

< and > are only used for math with the usual meaning.
Curly braces are sometimes used, but only in the opening form, either on the left, or on the top or bottom to englobe a set. Like for the peicewise template, or for repeating items (like when you try to explain multiplication, which is an addition that repeats n times)...

If you ever purchase a french keyboard, you will see that the {} and [] are truly addition, 3rd characters on keys using a special shift.
If you purchase a mac keyboard, they simply are not there!!!! Basically, you can not program on a French mac keyboard!

Cheers,
Cyrille

The same in Italian.
I live in south Switzerland and we use a Swiss-French keyboard, square brackets and braces are done using "Alt Gr".