"FM" == Frank Mittelbach writes: >> I didn't really understand the mention of cyrillic in this context >> -- are these russian letters to be used with mathematical >> meanings? As far as I know, even Russian mathematicians don't use >> cyrillic in their maths (though I could be wrong about that). FM> well Vladimir is certainly able to say so with more authority but FM> to my knowledge people use cyrillic letters (and greek FM> definitely). perhaps not when the write up for a US or Irish FM> journal though :-) yes, - indeed there are some cases when people use cyrillic letters to denote mathematical notions (objects), just like latin letters. some examples are cyrillic variants of GCD (greatest common divisor) and SCM (smallest common multiple) which are denoted with cyrillic letters; projection operator in geometry (in russian literature); people use cyrillic letters in mathematical formulae in some non-strictly mathematician sciences (e.g. economics); there are some stable usages of cyrillic letters in physical notations (in russian texts). but there are also established cases when cyrillic letters are used internationally in strictly mathematical publications - e.g. Shafarevich groups in algebraic geometry are often denoted with capital cyrillic letter sha - not only in russian literature! Best, v.