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Infix notation

Mathematics notation with operators between operands

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Infix notation is the notation commonly used in arithmetical and logical formulae and statements. It is characterized by the placement of operators between operands, "infixed operators", such as the plus sign in 2 + 2.

01Usage

Binary relations are often denoted by an infix symbol such as set membership aA when the set A has a for an element. In geometry, perpendicular lines a and b are denoted a\perp b\ , and in projective geometry two points b and c are in perspective when b\ \doublebarwedge \ c while they are connected by a projectivity when b\ \barwedge \ c.

Infix notation is more difficult to parse by computers than prefix notation (e.g. + 2 2) or postfix notation (e.g. 2 2 +). However many programming languages use it due to its familiarity. It is more used in arithmetic, e.g. 5 × 6.

02Further notations

Infix notation may also be distinguished from function notation, where the name of a function suggests a particular operation, and its arguments are the operands. An example of such a function notation would be S(1, 3) in which the function S denotes addition ("sum"): S (1, 3) = 1 + 3 = 4.

03Order of operations

In infix notation, unlike in prefix or postfix notations, parentheses surrounding groups of operands and operators are necessary to indicate the intended order in which operations are to be performed. In the absence of parentheses, certain precedence rules determine the order of operations.

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Infix notation, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

  • Infix-dia.svg by Infix-dia.png: blahedo derivative work: Beao, Public domain

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