How to read mathematical symbols and terms in English

1. $\mathcal{D}$: This is read as “script D” or “calligraphic D.” The $\mathcal{X}$ family of letters is often read as “script” followed by the letter.

2. $\mathbb{P}$: This is read as “blackboard bold P” or simply “P” for probability, depending on context.

3. $\sim$: This is read as “distributed according to” or “is distributed as.”

4. $\mathcal{X}$: This is read as “script X” or “calligraphic X.”

5. $\subset$: This is read as “is a subset of.”

6. $\to$: This is read as “maps to” or “goes to.”

7. $\mathbb{R}$: This is read as “blackboard bold R” or just “R” and usually refers to the set of real numbers.

8. $f(x)$: This is read as “f of x.”

9. $\ne$: This is read as “not equal to.”

10. $L_{\mathcal{D},f}(h)$: This can be read as “L subscript script D, comma f, of h.”

11. $h(x)$: This is read as “h of x.”

Example

• The expression D ( { x : h ( x ) ≠ f ( x ) } ) \mathcal{D}(\{x: h(x) \neq f(x)\}) D({x:h(x)=f(x)}) would be read as:
  • “script D of the set of all x such that h of x is not equal to f of x.”