Image talk:E-to-the-i-pi.svg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think there are various disadvantages for using this image as the category icon for Mathematics.

This icon does not look significantly different from any other images used for displaying formulas, which are content, while icons are decoration. On a mathematics page with formulas, the icon does little to help show the category of the page, and it may even divert the reader's attention, making them wonder "why is this formula over here?"

Being text-based, the icon also is less distinguishable from its surrounding text. People could read it as "e^(i Pi) This mathematics-related article is...." Although everyone will realize that it's not part of the text, because it doesn't make sense, the possibility of such first-peek confusion/distraction makes the icon less helpful and user-friendly.

Category icons should have the characteristics of being easily and quickly recognized, and related to their meanings, such as for Category:Mathematical analysis stubs, and for Category:Philosophy stubs. The formula in icon certainly has familiar significance to most people interested in mathematics, but the picture of the formula is is not usually seen frequently enough so that it makes people recognize and interpret it in a quick look. We can usually interpret pictures faster than text, and we also expect to see graphics instead of text in the place of an icon.

To improve this, my main suggestion is to use a more graphical instead of textual symbol of mathematics. It may be a concern that many of the graphical symbols would be confused with symbols for specific branches of mathematics, such as geometry, discrete math, or mathematical analysis. But the current icon is not a good representation of mathematics in that standard either. As supplementary visual elements, it should be okay for icons to be "partial".

However, it may seem that for many users' experience of mathematics, formulas tend to make them relate to it more easily. If a formula is used in the icon, I suggest that it's designed to be more distinguishable from surrounding text and other informational formula, maybe with a border, or with the formula deformed, or multi-line.

e^(i-pi) is the solution for the equation cosix+isinix= (cosx+isinx)^(i)

as an engineer, I prefer a j for sqrt(-1). plus, you could just put -1, and it would mean the same thing.

I think we all knew that here; the question isn't that it doesn't have to do with mathematics, the question is that the average user of wikipedia might not know that and be confused and/or distracted by it. He was suggesting that we use a less distracting, more universally recognizable icon for the mathematics stub template. --Charibdis 09:54, 16 October 2007 (UTC)