1

Should I put fullstop after \dots in a formula in the end of a sequence?

Consider for example the nonsense formula

$$E=mc^2 + \dots .$$
porton
  • 1,218
  • @ChristianHupfer How do you know he is using LaTeX? ;) – User Apr 21 '16 at 20:17
  • @User: Fair point ;-) –  Apr 21 '16 at 20:18
  • 1
    The typographic rules states that ellipsis (since \dots gives “…”) shall not be followed by a period. Hence, the answer is no. – Zoxume Apr 21 '16 at 20:20
  • 1
    @Zoxume But they are math ellipsis, so a symbol, and not text ellipsis, therefore they are not a punctuation mark – User Apr 21 '16 at 20:25
  • 3
    You should load amsmath and input your formula as \[E=mc^2+\dotsb.\] If you aren't using LaTeX, but plain TeX, use \cdots. – egreg Apr 21 '16 at 20:25
  • 1
    I would follow them with a dot if they were centered dots as in this case, and probably not follow them with a dot if they were low dots – User Apr 21 '16 at 20:30

1 Answers1

4

LaTeX answer

Never ever use $$ in LaTeX; see Why is \[ ... \] preferable to $$ ... $$?

Of course, loading amsmath is recommended, so the equation can be typed in as

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

\begin{equation*}
E=mc^2+\dots+\frac{GmM}{r^2}+\dotsb.
\end{equation*}

\end{document}

Note that you have to help LaTeX and tell it what kind of dots you need: “dots for binary operation” in this case.

Plain TeX answer

$$
E=mc^2+\cdots+{GmM\over r^2}+\cdots.
$$

\bye

AMS-TeX answer

\input amstex
\documentstyle{amsppt}

\document

$$
E=mc^2+\dots+\frac{GmM}{r^2}+\dotsb.
$$

\enddocument

Output

The output is essentially the same in all three cases.

enter image description here

Community
  • 1
egreg
  • 1,121,712