arithmetic language

[desh]

We say "two plus three", but we say "add two and three", and that's "addition". And some of us might've laughed under our breath in middle school at the kids in math class who used "plus" as a verb. Similarly, "two minus three" but "subtract three from two" for "subtraction", "two times three" but "multiply two by/and three" for "multiplication", and so on.

When you're talking sets, what do you do instead? I guess "B intersect C" and "intersect B and C" for "intersection", but what about union? "Then you union B and C" sounds almost as wrong as "Then you times 2 and 3".

Comments

[desh]

Can you say that properly in English without the word "take" (or a synonym), though? Because you're using "union" as analogous to "sum", and I'm still wondering if "union" (or something else) is an appropriate English analog of "add".

[leftyjew.livejournal.com]

isn't unioning sets adding them? Or OR'ing them. and intersecting sets is AND'ing or multiplying, right?

[fweebles.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you can in general, but you couldn't in any of my classes without getting ridiculed by the professor, the students, or both. It was pretty much the same reaction that you'd get if you'd said, "when you plus these two numbers together..."