14.5 Writing maths

1. Always write down your working as well as your final answer. If you need to send your answer to your tutor, it will help them to see what you did right and (if you made a mistake) where you went wrong. Even if no one else looks at your working, writing it down will make it clearer to you if you need to refer back to the question later. Also, if your answer is written down in a methodical way you are less likely to make a mistake and more likely to get the correct answer.
2. It is perfectly acceptable to write words of explanation in your answer – it doesn’t all have to be symbols and numbers!
3. Remember that the symbol ‘=’ means ‘equals’ and should never be used to mean ‘thus’ or ‘therefore’. The symbol ‘’ can be used to mean ‘therefore’, or just write the word ‘therefore’ or ‘so’ in your answer. It can make a calculation clearer if you align the ‘=’ symbols vertically, to indicate that the quantity on the left-hand side is equal to or approximately equal to each quantity on the right-hand side. Figure 14.1 shows some examples of good and bad practice in the use of equals signs.
   

   Figure 14.1 Using equals signs in calculations: (a) example of good practice; (b) example of bad practice.