I say tomato; you say to-mah-to is all well and good, but when I say math and you say maths, it’s going to come to blows.
So why is it that Americans tend to call it math while those from the U.K. insist it’s maths?
The main argument, according to Dr. Lynne Murphy, an American linguist living in the UK, is that both words are abbreviations for mathematics, which is plural… or is it?
In an interview with Numberphile, Murphy stated that the problem with that argument is that mathematics isn’t plural.
“We don’t say, ‘there are two mathematics that I need to look at.’ And when you make maths or mathematics agree with a verb you make it agree with a singular verb and not a plural one. You don’t say ‘mathematics are interesting’ you say ‘maths is interesting’… so there’s plenty of linguistic evidence that it’s singular.” Continue reading “Math or Maths? The Definitive Answer”