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I am writing an academic paper and confused about the following usage of "a/an":

with an MAP score below 0.4

Or

with a MAP score below 0.4

While the second one seems more "grammarly" correct, I see frequent usage of the first one. Indeed, if you Google an mAP with Google Scholar, you will find plenty of usages in research papers.

So, which one is more correct? Any advice or suggestion will be appreciated.

lllllllllllll
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    Never mind "grammarly". The rule has to do with pronunciation, not grammar. If the speaker pronounces MAP as /ɛmeipi/ then it starts with a vowel and an is appropriate. If, on the other hand, the speaker says MAP as /mæp/, then it starts with a consonant and a is appropriate. But you have to know how it's pronounced. – John Lawler Aug 21 '19 at 02:15
  • @JohnLawler thanks for the comment. So basically, the mAP stands for mean Average Precision, a term frequently used in Computer Vision research. In that sense, maybe the second option is more reasonable? – lllllllllllll Aug 21 '19 at 02:17
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    It doesn't matter what it stands for; it only matters how you pronounce it, by letters or by acronym, and that's random. So, how do you pronounce it? And, if you're writing, how do your readers pronounce it? If you don't know, find out. – John Lawler Aug 21 '19 at 02:22
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    @JohnLawler. I got your point!! Thanks a lot. I will pronounce it as /ɛmeipi/. – lllllllllllll Aug 21 '19 at 02:28
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    In which case, 'an' is more appropriate. – marcellothearcane Aug 25 '19 at 21:28

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