Iconicity in Mathematical Notation: Commutativity and Symmetry

• Main Authors: Theresa Elise Wege, Sophie Batchelor, Matthew Inglis, Honali Mistry, Dirk Schlimm
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PsychOpen 2020-12-01
• Series: Journal of Numerical Cognition
• Subjects: mathematical notation; icons; semantic association; signs; symbols
• Online Access: https://jnc.psychopen.eu/index.php/jnc/article/view/314

Mathematical notation includes a vast array of signs. Most mathematical signs appear to be symbolic, in the sense that their meaning is arbitrarily related to their visual appearance. We explored the hypothesis that mathematical signs with iconic aspects – those which visually resemble in some way the concepts they represent – offer a cognitive advantage over those which are purely symbolic. An early formulation of this hypothesis was made by Christine Ladd in 1883 who suggested that symmetrical signs should be used to convey commutative relations, because they visually resemble the mathematical concept they represent. Two controlled experiments provide the first empirical test of, and evidence for, Ladd’s hypothesis. In Experiment 1 we find that participants are more likely to attribute commutativity to operations denoted by symmetric signs. In Experiment 2 we further show that using symmetric signs as notation for commutative operations can increase mathematical performance.