Scientific Writing for Computer Science Students - FTP Directory ...

92 CHAPTER 5. WRITING MASTER’S THESIS“If a technical term is used as a substitute for an explanation, it gives nomore than an impression of knowledge. ... Unless a technical term can bedefined clearly and then used with accuracy and precision, it may concealour ignorance and obscure the need for further research, and it should haveno place in scientific writing.” [1, 62]Symbols• Don’t use the same symbol for different things!• Try to use also indexes in a uniform manner. E.g. if the i = 1, ..., nis the number of rows and j = 1, ..., k the number of attributes in oneplace, don’t change them in another place.• If some special notation is widely used in literature, follow it.• If different sources use different notations, harmonize them. (Fix onenotation and translate all notations to your own ”language”.)• Do not use Greek (or Hebrew) letters if there is no reason. If there isa danger of confusion e.g. with values of variables, then Greek lettersare justified.EquationsAvoid listing mathematical equations! Try to integrate equations into sentencesso that the results is readable.Do not replace words by mathematical symbols (e.g. ∀) in the text.