Pet Peeves

A curated list of small but persistent annoyances I’ve encountered in coding style, LaTeX formatting, and written language. If you ever notice me being inconsistent, feel free to call me out. I try to stick to my own rules, but occasional slips may have inadvertently crept in.

LaTeX Pet Peeves

To start with, go through Evan’s LaTeX Style Guide. Also, read this.

  1. Use \times or \cdot for multiplication depending upon the use case. $$ \frac 12\times \frac 23 \times\dots\times \frac{n}{n+1}$$ $$\text{and}$$ $$2\cdot \sin(x) \cdot \cos(x).$$
  2. Use punctuation with math environments just as you would in normal text. If a pause is needed before an equation, insert a comma; otherwise, don’t. A mathematical text is, before everything else, a text — see this explanation.
  3. Do not capitalize the word “theorem” when referring to it by name. Capitalize it only when referring to it at the start of a sentence — see this explanation.
  4. Use space correctly around math symbols — see this explanation.
  5. There should be one (and only one) master QED for a single solution. You may use sub-QEDs for individual claims if needed.

Grammatical Pet Peeves

  1. Use a consistent English dialect. I use American English throughout, so for me, it’s color, not colour.
  2. Be consistent while using/not using the Oxford comma — see this explanation.
  3. Punctuate emojis properly. To be fair, there isn’t any hard-and-fast rule for typesetting emojis. These are just personal conventions I like to follow:
    • If the emoji comes at the end of a sentence that also ends the paragraph, place it after the period, separated by a space. 🙂
    • If the emoji comes at the end of a sentence within a paragraph, place it before the period 😮. Otherwise, the emoji feels disconnected from the sentence it belongs to.
    • If the emoji is followed by a punctuation mark such as a comma 🤔, place it before the comma.
  4. Punctuate text within parentheses properly — see this explanation.
  5. Format spaces around slashes properly — see this explanation.
  6. Use punctuation with abbreviations correctly — see this explanation.
  7. Use punctuation with quotes properly — see this explanation.
  8. Use dashes properly — see this explanation.
  9. Use periods at the end of a bullet point if and only if it is a complete sentence. Ideally, a list of bullet points should have either all sentences or all fragments, i.e., phrases that are not complete sentences.
  10. Use hyphens appropriately when listing multiple hyphenated terms — see this explanation.
  11. Typeset time properly when using the 12-hour format. I follow the Chicago style for writing times, such as “10:00 p.m.”
  12. Use apostrophes properly — see this explanation. (Specifically, note the difference between the use of apostrophes in individual and joint possession.)