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I had heard that a sensible scheme for naming functions and arguments should avoid somewhat arbitrary abbreviations. There are, for example, a multitude of ways to abbreviate or misspell infinity, but a single correct one that is much easier to remember than any specific abbreviation, e.g. infnty.

Why then do we have \infty? What was Knuth thinking? Am I the only one gets this wrong 50% of the time when I need it? Am I missing something about the programming style of latex?

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closed as primarily opinion-based by David Carlisle, egreg, Mico, Torbjørn T., Claudio Fiandrino Sep 22 '16 at 8:45

Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

  • Idle speculation not informed by any actual historical evidence: It's nice to have to type only 5 letters ("infty") rather than 8 letters ("infinity") -- fewer chances of typos, if nothing else... Abbreviating the name of the macro even further, e.g., to just 3 letters, was probably judged unwise as ambiguity might arise with respect to the math operator \inf ("infimum"). – Mico Sep 22 '16 at 7:52
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    presumably because it is faster to type. Similar question: why is \cong the name for = with a ~ on top. \congruence might be a better name. You can always make your own name for the symbols you use. It is actually a good idea. In the field I wrote my thesis, \cong means isomorphism, so using \newcommand\isomorph\cong would make sense in my thesis. – daleif Sep 22 '16 at 7:52
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    several others are shortened \sqrt, \pm, \prod(uct), \int(egral) ... so \infty doesn't seem that out of place, but anyway I think the only person who can answer is not a member of the site so this has to be closed as "opinion-based" as no real answer possible. – David Carlisle Sep 22 '16 at 7:56
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    Not an answer to the question but: if you don't like \infty why don't you defy Knuth and make a \newcommand\infnty{\infty}? – Guilherme Zanotelli Sep 22 '16 at 8:38
  • Actually, removing vowels (except for 1st letter) is a fairly common abbreviation technique, I think, because the brain can fill in vowels naturally when trying to decipher it. If that still isn't short enough, then some additional consonants may also be removed (p.2 of lsbm.ac.uk/assets/pdf/…, and pe.usps.gov/text/pub28/28c3_027.htm). Note: not to be confused with "disemvowling" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disemvoweling) – Steven B. Segletes Sep 22 '16 at 10:10

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