Как пишется math или maths

By any name, writers as a group have encountered no enemy quite so intractable as the enemy of mathematics. Writers don’t understand numbers. We don’t trust them. Nonetheless, mathematics is part of life, and we must learn to accept the things we can’t change.

As if the numbers themselves weren’t confusing enough, there are two ways to shorten mathematics—as math and as maths. Luckily, we writers like words, and we can handle simple dilemmas such as this one.

Both of these terms are correct. If you don’t know when to choose math or maths, you aren’t alone. Continue reading to discover the proper usage cases for each of these words.

What is the Difference Between Math and Maths?

In this article, I will compare math vs. maths. I will use each of these spellings in at least one example sentence, so you can see them in context.

Plus, I will show you a useful mnemonic that will help you next time you need to choose either maths or math.

When to Use Math

What does math mean? Math is a shortened form of the word mathematics, which is the study of number, quantity, and space. Math is a crucial element of such pursuits as physics, engineering, accounting, statistical analysis, and basic personal finance. It is also a field of study in itself.

Here are a few examples of math used in sentences.

• I have math homework to do, but I would rather do something else.
• Early intervention for math should target either procedural fluency or conceptual understanding.
• “We throw away a banana for every buck we take, so no one finds out,” Maebe said, to which T-Bone replied, “I think you should do that math again.”
• But reading and math scores were essentially flat on the most recent Nation’s Report Card, a measure of student achievement. –The Wall Street Journal

Math is the predominant form of this word in American English.

As you can see in the above chart, math is the clear winner in American English.

When to Use Maths

What does maths mean? Maths is another form of the same word. Where math is prevalent in American English, maths is much more common in British English.

It is common to see maths is British publications.

Osborne said schools in the north should aim to raise attainment at 16 in English and maths to be at least the national average, and that he wanted the north to be regarded as a leading European region in digital skills at 16. –The Guardian

Interestingly, the British have preferred math for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, culminating in a prominent spike in usage around 1970, before maths overtook it.

Trick to Remember the Difference

Math and maths are the standard forms of this word in American and British English, respectively.

Luckily, there is a very easy way to remember maths vs. math. Maths ends in the letter S, just like the river Thames in England. If you can link this bit of British geography to the British word maths, you should have no trouble remembering the usage cases for these variants.

Summary

Is it math or maths? Both maths and math are shortened forms of the word mathematics, which is the study of number, quantity, and space.

• Math is the American variant.
• Maths is the British variant.

Since maths and Thames both end with an -s, you should have little trouble remembering when to use maths.

Math is difficult, but even if you don’t understand mathematics, you can be sure you’re using the correct word when you write about it.

Abbreviations and contractions of words follow many conventions, take for example the word continued I have seen it abbreviated/shortened/contracted or clipped in three ways.

• cont
• cont.
• cont’d

Mathematics can be similarly contracted

• math
• math.
• (math’s) maths

Perhaps, originally, the written form with the apostrophe, math’s, was more common in Great Britain but over time the apostrophe became obsolete. In fact the apostrophe in math’s has no effect on its pronunciation. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the Oxford English Dictionary to confirm my suspicion that the term math’s was ever used.
The Online Etymology Dictionary instead states that the American math first appeared in 1890 while the British maths is attested from 1911.
Wikipedia has this to say on contractions:

An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a contraction is a
reduction of size by the drawing together of the parts. A contraction
of a word is made by omitting certain letters or syllables and
bringing together the first and last letters or elements; an
abbreviation may be made by omitting certain portions from the
interior or by cutting off a part. A contraction is an abbreviation,
but an abbreviation is not necessarily a contraction.

Further on, Wikipedia explains

In British English, according to Hart’s Rules, the general rule is
that abbreviations (in the narrow sense that includes only words with
the ending, and not the middle, dropped) terminate with a full stop,
whereas contractions (in the sense of words missing a middle part) do
not.

Curious to see whether I could find the apostrophe version, I turned to Google Books and found to my surprise that math’s existed in the US, this example is dated 1836, and predates Word Detective’s claim that the first instance of math appeared in 1847.

Larry Trask who was professor of Linguistics in Sussex University (UK) mentions the most common shortened forms where the apostrophe still survives.

A few words which were contractions long ago are still conventionally
written with apostrophes, even though the longer forms have more or
less dropped out of use. There are so few of these that you can easily learn them all. Here are the commonest ones, with their original longer forms:

• o’clock, of the clock
• Hallowe’en, Halloweven
• fo’c’s’le, forecastle
• cat-o’-nine-tails, cat-of-nine-tails
• ne’er-do-well, never-do-well
• will-o’-the-wisp, will-of-the-wisp

EDIT

Published in Richmond USA by William F. Richie, 1853-54, The Merit Roll of the Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, July 1853 lists math’s as the shortened form for mathematics twice!

Personal Reflections

As demonstrated in the excerpts I provided, it seems clear that the spelling convention for contracted words i.e., the use of the apostrophe for showing the omission of letters, was also used in the US. The shortened form math’s was necessary in order to save space but for some reason the superfluous apostrophe and the letter -S were kept despite logic demanding that the word math was shorter. The question also arises whether this contracted word was ever actually spoken by Americans? My guess? Probably not, they chose not to say maths /maθs/ because it sounded plural and therefore opted for the clipped form, math /maθ/ in speech. The British, being renowned traditionalists, decided to keep the «silent» apostrophe in speech and thus favoured the longer form maths.

Abbreviations and contractions of words follow many conventions, take for example the word continued I have seen it abbreviated/shortened/contracted or clipped in three ways.

• cont
• cont.
• cont’d

Mathematics can be similarly contracted

• math
• math.
• (math’s) maths

Perhaps, originally, the written form with the apostrophe, math’s, was more common in Great Britain but over time the apostrophe became obsolete. In fact the apostrophe in math’s has no effect on its pronunciation. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the Oxford English Dictionary to confirm my suspicion that the term math’s was ever used.
The Online Etymology Dictionary instead states that the American math first appeared in 1890 while the British maths is attested from 1911.
Wikipedia has this to say on contractions:

An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a contraction is a
reduction of size by the drawing together of the parts. A contraction
of a word is made by omitting certain letters or syllables and
bringing together the first and last letters or elements; an
abbreviation may be made by omitting certain portions from the
interior or by cutting off a part. A contraction is an abbreviation,
but an abbreviation is not necessarily a contraction.

Further on, Wikipedia explains

In British English, according to Hart’s Rules, the general rule is
that abbreviations (in the narrow sense that includes only words with
the ending, and not the middle, dropped) terminate with a full stop,
whereas contractions (in the sense of words missing a middle part) do
not.

Curious to see whether I could find the apostrophe version, I turned to Google Books and found to my surprise that math’s existed in the US, this example is dated 1836, and predates Word Detective’s claim that the first instance of math appeared in 1847.

Larry Trask who was professor of Linguistics in Sussex University (UK) mentions the most common shortened forms where the apostrophe still survives.

A few words which were contractions long ago are still conventionally
written with apostrophes, even though the longer forms have more or
less dropped out of use. There are so few of these that you can easily learn them all. Here are the commonest ones, with their original longer forms:

• o’clock, of the clock
• Hallowe’en, Halloweven
• fo’c’s’le, forecastle
• cat-o’-nine-tails, cat-of-nine-tails
• ne’er-do-well, never-do-well
• will-o’-the-wisp, will-of-the-wisp

EDIT

Published in Richmond USA by William F. Richie, 1853-54, The Merit Roll of the Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, July 1853 lists math’s as the shortened form for mathematics twice!

Personal Reflections

As demonstrated in the excerpts I provided, it seems clear that the spelling convention for contracted words i.e., the use of the apostrophe for showing the omission of letters, was also used in the US. The shortened form math’s was necessary in order to save space but for some reason the superfluous apostrophe and the letter -S were kept despite logic demanding that the word math was shorter. The question also arises whether this contracted word was ever actually spoken by Americans? My guess? Probably not, they chose not to say maths /maθs/ because it sounded plural and therefore opted for the clipped form, math /maθ/ in speech. The British, being renowned traditionalists, decided to keep the «silent» apostrophe in speech and thus favoured the longer form maths.

Published February 2, 2021

If you’ve grown up using the word math, you might be wondering about the word maths, which you’ve probably encountered from time to time. Did you chalk it up to a typographical error or guess that the person using it was just putting on airs? The same goes, of course, if you grew up saying maths. Did math sound awfully odd?

At this point, you may be wondering: is there room for both of these words in our vocabularies? Should you be using maths instead of math in some cases?

The explanation may surprise you—and no, it doesn’t involve any actual math!

What does math mean?

Both math and maths are short for the word mathematics. The word math can refer to either the discipline or subject of mathematics. It can also refer to mathematical procedures. In a sentence like She enjoys studying math and science, the word math refers to the subject or discipline of mathematics. In the sentence She insisted on seeing his math so she could understand his proposal, math refers to actual calculations.

What does maths mean?

Maths has the very same definition as math. If you substitute maths into any of the above examples, the sentences mean the exact same thing. For example: He loves school, but he especially enjoys maths.

How to use math and maths

The only difference between math and maths is where they’re used. Math is the preferred term in the United States and Canada. Maths is the preferred term in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and other English-speaking places.

There’s no real logical explanation as to why math became preferred in some places while maths was elsewhere. The usual argument goes that mathematics is plural because it ends in an -s, so maths should be its abbreviation. The problem is that, while it ends in an –s, mathematics is a mass noun and usually takes a singular verb (e.g., Mathematics is my best subject).

Both of these words date back to the turn of the 20th century. There are examples of math in writings from the 1840s, and of maths from the 1910s.

Other differences between British and American English

In some cases, British and American English use different words for the same concept. For example, American English speakers use the words truck, shopping cart, and sweater; British English speakers say lorry, trolley, and jumper to mean the same things.

In other cases, the differences between British and American English words are much more subtle. For instance, American English uses the term racecar, while British English uses the word racing car.

British and American English employ many different spelling approaches. Take our spelling challenge to see how well you know the difference.

In still other cases, British and American English words differ by just one letter, as in the case of math and maths. British English includes U in the spelling of French-derived words, such as colour or favourite, which American English omits.

This also happens with the words sport and sports. In American English, you’d say, “I enjoy playing sports, and I also like watching sports.” In British English, this sentence would be “I enjoy playing sport, and I also like watching sport.” This time, it’s American English that likes the –s!