# "Maths"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 18, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796 "2014-09-18T04:08:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/1 "2014-09-18T04:08:10Z")
I haven’t taken a math class since probably 1977 or '78, the last year I was required by my high school to do so. It was Algebra II/Trig, as I recall, and I passed it by the skinniest skin of my teeth. Still, the study of numbers had always been referred to as “math,” a non-count noun much like “water,” “beef” or “rice.” I fancied that there was a vast ocean of mathematics somewhere and that any cupful of it I might encounter was understood to still be part of that same vast body of numbers. In the last two or three years, I’ve noticed reference to “maths.” Most recently, this was in an issue of the magazine The Economist. Had it occurred on its own, I would have written it off as a quirky difference between UK and US English, but it seems to pop up regularly enough that I should really ask the esteemed regulars on this board: [ul] [li]Is “maths” the standard way of referring to the study of mathematics?[/li][li]Has this been the case all along and I just started to notice it around 2010-ish? (I left a media-related career in 2009 to teach English overseas, so a lot of my points of reference encountered a rather sudden shift. I also had neurosurgery shortly after arriving in Korea, which is probably unrelated, but that represented a pretty major shift for me as well, so it’s worth mentioning.)[/li][li]If “math” is the singular form, to what does it refer? Is Arithmetic one distinct math and Geometry another?[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/2 "2014-09-18T04:14:45Z")
“Maths,” short for “Mathematics,” which is plural even in US English, has been a quirky difference between US and UK English for at least at least thirty years, and I’d guess forever. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/3 "2014-09-18T04:23:07Z")
“Mathematics” is _not_ a plural. Neither is linguistics, statistics[sup]1[/sup], logistics, etc. The Brits just like to use unnecessary “s” sounds. Like how they think “dice” is a singular noun. [sub]1. when referring to the area of study as a whole.[/sub]. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/4 "2014-09-18T04:23:54Z")
Apropos of nothing but this american thinks nothing of shortening mathematics to math and economics to econ but statistics could never be stat. If there’s a rule governing this shortening, it’s not an immediately obvious one. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/5 "2014-09-18T04:24:00Z")
“Maths” is the standard abbreviation for “mathematics” in British English (and many other variants of the language). It’s singular. (“Maths is my favourite subject.”) The final ‘s’ may come from the final ‘s’ in “mathematics”. There’s no rule which says abbreviations have to come from the start of a word, and there are plenty of counter-examples - “ltd” for “limited”, “rd” for “road”, “Penna” for “Pennsylvania”, etc. Alternatively, the final “s” may be an informal diminutive, as it is in abbreviations like “Babs” for “Barbara”, “Pops” for father or grandfather, etc. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/6 "2014-09-18T04:27:09Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > If there’s a rule governing this shortening, it’s not an immediately obvious one. Welcome to English. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/7 "2014-09-18T04:29:02Z")
I found a few older texts that abbreviated mathematics as math’s with the apostrophe denoting that a part of the word had been deleted, as one sees in the infamous fo’c’sle. It could be that over time the apostrophe simply got dropped and then it was merely a habit to retain the -s in the abbreviation. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/8 "2014-09-18T04:32:56Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > There’s no rule which says abbreviations have to come from the start of a word, and there are plenty of counter-examples - “ltd” for “limited”, “rd” for “road”, “Penna” for “Pennsylvania”, etc. Great list; I’d add “TWP” for “Township,” although both the word and its abbreviation appear to have little use or meaning outside New York and New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/9 "2014-09-18T04:50:43Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Great list; I’d add “TWP” for “Township,” although both the word and its abbreviation appear to have little use or meaning outside New York and New Jersey. Oh, there’s countless examples, many but not all from the world of officialdom and bureacracy. In no particular order: tld = townland ct = court bp = bishop abp = archbishop cdl = cardinal acct = account admon = administration admor = administrator assn = association mr = mister dr = doctor MS = manuscript pt = part ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/10 "2014-09-18T05:15:27Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Oh, there’s countless examples, many but not all from the world of officialdom and bureacracy. In no particular order: > tld = townland > ct = court > bp = bishop > abp = archbishop > cdl = cardinal > acct = account > admon = administration > admor = administrator > assn = association > mr = mister > dr = doctor > MS = manuscript > pt = part None of those function as words that can be pronounced, though, in the way that “maths” does. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/11 "2014-09-18T05:41:07Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > None of those function as words that can be pronounced, though, in the way that “maths” does. That’s partly because abbreviations are frequently constructed by omitting vowels, which makes the resulting configuration difficult to pronounce as a spelled word. But there are examples of pronounceable abbreviations on this model. Inner Stickler has already given us “stats” for “statistics”. And there’s “Chas” for “Charles”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/12 "2014-09-18T07:54:53Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > “Mathematics” is _not_ a plural. Neither is linguistics, statistics[sup]1[/sup], logistics, etc. The Brits just like to use unnecessary “s” sounds. Like how they think “dice” is a singular noun. > > [sub]1. when referring to the area of study as a whole.[/sub]. It’s got very little to do with what we like or how we think (as if that were monolithic). it’s just a part of the prevailing local culture - something that humans absorb and adopt, pretty much _without_ conscious choice or preference, wherever they live. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/13 "2014-09-18T07:58:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s got very little to do with what we like or how we think (as if that were monolithic). it’s just a part of the prevailing local culture - something that humans absorb and adopt, pretty much _without_ conscious choice or preference, wherever they live. I know. I just enjoy making fun of limeys. Now excuse me while I kick back and watch the dissolution of your union from afar. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/14 "2014-09-18T08:01:50Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > The Brits just like to use unnecessary “s” sounds. Like how they think “dice” is a singular noun. 😕 Referring to “dice” as a singular noun is an error common to British and US English IME …an understandable one too, since dice is clearly an irregular plural. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/15 "2014-09-18T08:18:16Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > 😕 > Referring to “dice” as a singular noun is an error common to British and US English IME > > …an understandable one too, since dice is clearly an irregular plural. It balances “pea,” which arose by mistaking “pease” for a plural. Gotta keep the delicate equilibrium! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/16 "2014-09-18T08:24:04Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > 😕 > Referring to “dice” as a singular noun is an error common to British and US English IME > > …an understandable one too, since dice is clearly an irregular plural. “Dice” as a singular noun, with plural either “dice” or “dices”, is found in English from the fourteenth century. I don’t think we can call it an error any more. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/17 "2014-09-18T08:52:50Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > “Dice” as a singular noun, with plural either “dice” or “dices”, is found in English from the fourteenth century. I don’t think we can call it an error any more. I just use the term “error” in a loose sense when referring to language. Of course language is fluid, and English is a dog’s dinner anyway. I was just responding to the point that we Brits “think ‘dice’ is a singular noun”. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/18 "2014-09-18T09:17:21Z")
From the [book of knowledge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics): > [@](#): > > The apparent plural form in English, like the French plural form les mathématiques (and the less commonly used singular derivative la mathématique), goes back to the Latin neuter plural mathematica (Cicero), based on the Greek plural τα μαθηματικά (ta mathēmatiká), used by Aristotle (384–322 BC), and meaning roughly “all things mathematical”; although it is plausible that English borrowed only the adjective mathematic(al) and formed the noun mathematics anew, after the pattern of physics and metaphysics, which were inherited from the Greek.[27] In English, the noun mathematics takes singular verb forms. It is often shortened to maths or, in English-speaking North America, math.[28] ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/19 "2014-09-18T11:28:48Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Oh, there’s countless examples, many but not all from the world of officialdom and bureacracy. In no particular order: > tld = townland > ct = court > bp = bishop > abp = archbishop > cdl = cardinal > acct = account > admon = administration > admor = administrator > assn = association > mr = mister > dr = doctor > MS = manuscript > pt = part Back in the days of handwriting only, pre-typewriters, it was fairly common to abbreviate a word by using the first part and last part: Jas for James, say, or -tn for -tion. Happens a lot in old manuscripts. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796/20 "2014-09-18T11:52:15Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Apropos of nothing but this american thinks nothing of shortening mathematics to math and economics to econ but statistics could never be stat. If there’s a rule governing this shortening, it’s not an immediately obvious one. We do say ‘a statistic’ which is reduced to ‘a stat’. Statistics is reduced to ‘stats’. ‘A mathematic’ doesn’t get used that I’ve noticed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maths/698796.md?page=2)