Talk:Formula

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One of the 500 most frequently viewed mathematics articles.

We need a WikiChem language to write chemical formulae, similarly to WikiMath - unsigned

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[edit] This page needs improvement

Is this a disambiguation page? It has the template and the alternate meanings, but what the heck? It seems like it was written by a high-school Chemestry teacher or something. Eww. Who wrote this? Is anyone going to step in and improve it? I'd rather not intrude, though I guess if I have to eventually... =/ Matt Yeager 06:26, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

The reference to needing integral calculus to determine the volume of a sphere doesn't make sense, in light of Archimedes. While it makes sense to argue that integral calculus is needed to derive a formula with which to determine the volume of a sphere without dunking the sphere in water, one can nonetheless dunk a smaller sphere in water, measure the volume of water displaced, and proportionately calculate the volume of a larger sphere. So, calculus is not needed to determine the volume of any sphere. Its use is limited to creating a general formula with which to calculate a sphere's volume. - unsigned

If you don't have the formula, you do in fact need integral calculus, because otherwise you will encounter experimental error, and you will only come up with a rough approximation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.144.178.98 (talk) 18:56, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Looking at this page, I'm thinking that it could still use a lot of improvement (eg: adding a section on chemical formulae), although it is much better than it was when Matt Yeager made his comment. DonkeyKong the mathematician (in training) 10:34, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

by the way, this page should include the standard units used for the formula. the is what is the unit that we use to measure the r (radius),is it in M, cm or mm? by including the standard can help the readers to understand more easily. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.50.152.179 (talk) 08:33, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

The formula V = \begin{matrix} \frac{4}{3} \end{matrix} \pi r^3 is independent of the used units. For example, if you insert numbers with r in cm then you get V in cm3 after taking the cube, and if you insert r in mm then you get V in mm3. The same applies to E=mc2 and other physical formulas. You don't replace the variable with a number only. You replace it with a number and unit of your choice, and the unit is included in the operations. When geometry is not applied to the physical world, it is common to not use units for length, area, volume. For example, the radius of a circle may simply be given as 1 and it's area as π. This may assume some underlying coordinate system. PrimeHunter 15:13, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Should this page be renamed?

The disambiguation page says: "See [formula] for an account of the concept in mathematics and the sciences". I think this is a good description of what this page seems to be trying to achieve, and so perhaps it should be renamed to reflect this. DonkeyKong the mathematician (in training) 19:38, 28 April 2007 (UTC)


i think that wikipedia should be a place where people can't edit material. it's not right. people come here for help and what they read is usually not true and weird. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.62.102.249 (talk) 02:08, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

This is not the place to discuss who can edit. Have you found an error in formula? PrimeHunter 03:04, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plural

'Formulas' is not the plural of 'formula' in this world or the next! Please, for the sake of the children, don't use it. Falcifer 14:46, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Both forms are usually considered right in English and this is the English Wikipedia. See for example http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/formula. Google shows 'formulas' is more common than 'formulae', and I'm guessing the difference is increasing. 36 million pages currently disagree with you. PrimeHunter 15:15, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't really matter how many pages disagree, but if a Merriam Websters uses it I guess it must be acceptable (probably a case of being incorrect but gradually becoming accepted over time). Richard001 01:20, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

If it becomes sufficiently accepted then I think it also becomes correct (which doesn't have to mean the old form becomes incorrect). MathWorld is referenced in lots of math articles and http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Formula.html says:
The correct Latin plural form of formula is "formulae," although the less pretentious-sounding "formulas" is more commonly used.
The Latin Wikipedia can say formulae but we don't have to. Lots of words with Latin origin are changed in English and other languages. PrimeHunter 02:41, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Expressions

I fail to see how "formula" is analogous with "expression". You can make an argument for it, but as the article says "In mathematics, a formula is a key to solve an equation with variables." - which means a variable is being solved for by setting it equal to a known expression, i.e. an equation. Not only this, but it is misleading, since typing in "physics formulae" in Google shows pages and pages of equations and no expressions. Mind you, that is just physics, but I can't recall a single formula from either math or physics that is just an expression. I realize that formulas can be inequalities or identities etc... but wouldn't any of these make more sense than expression? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.227.12.225 (talk) 22:22, 2 March 2008 (UTC)