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" = " (the equals sign) means “is the same as” and was first introduced in the 1557 book The Whetstone of Witte by Robert Recorde (c. 1510-1558).
" := " (the equal by definition sign) means “is equal by definition to”. This is a common alternate form of the symbol “=Def”, which appears in the 1894 book Logica Matematica by the logician Cesare Burali-Forti (1861–1931). Other common alternate forms of the symbol “=Def” include“def = ” and “≡”, the latter being especially common in applied mathematics.
Source: Some Common Mathematical Symbols and Abbreviations (with History) Isaiah Lankham, Bruno Nachtergaele, Anne Schilling (January 21, 2007)
Summary:
Use " = " when you are simplifying some expression or equating two functions
example :
(x+2)(x+1) = x^2+3x+2
2^2 = 4
Use " := " / “≡” to imply equivalence or when you are assigning an expression to a new variable say
example:
Are all three equivalent? If not, would you kindly explain the differences? If so, would you mention please that they are exchangeable?
Thank you _very much_ for writing this. I have wanted a document like this forever.
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