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I am writing mathematical definitions in my scientific publications. My editor corrected the definitions in two different ways, but not consistently.

The editor is not from a publisher. It is a service that checks my punctuation and spelling, before I submit my paper for peer-review.

Now, I am not sure which version is correct:

Version 1:

Let A, and B; then, C.

Version 2:

Let A, and B. Then, C.

Version 3:

Let A, and B; then C.

Version 4:

Let A, and B, then C.

Edit: After reading

Additionally I read

In any case, I am none the wiser.

John Lawler
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Make42
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  • A, B, and C are not sufficient linguistic content to decide; sorry. A lot depends on the structure of the sentences that is being ignored. So maybe the changes were consistent to the editor. As long as they don't modify the symbolic logic you're presenting, punctuation marks, spaces, and capitalization -- even spelling -- are strictly in the province of the publisher. – John Lawler Oct 10 '21 at 17:14
  • @JohnLawler: The editor is not from a publisher. It is a service that checks my punctuation and spelling, before I submit my paper for peer-review. The contents is something like "Let x be a set, then a data object is an element of x." - does that help? – Make42 Oct 10 '21 at 17:22
  • That would require a semicolon, since Let x be a set is a sentence and requires a full stop like a semicolon or a period. You could specify several in a row with commas, like the old joke Let F be a ring, let R be a group, and let G be a field. But then you'd need a full stop. – John Lawler Oct 10 '21 at 17:45
  • Related? Or not really? Is it wrong for a then clause to follow a since clause? – BCLC Oct 10 '21 at 18:32
  • @JohnLawler: So if the part before the "then" could be its own sentence, then I cannot use Version 4. But which of the other three should I use? – Make42 Oct 10 '21 at 19:41
  • This "editor" probably doesn't have any idea what they are doing. They exist to take your money and give you bad advice. Get a different editor (or better yet, just send it straight to the scientific journal). Unless A is a very long phrase, you shouldn't need a comma in "Let A, and B" – Peter Shor Oct 10 '21 at 23:01

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This is a definition? That is: A,B is the setting and C is the actual definition? If so: Definitely no comma after "then". Probably a period after B (although semicolon or comma are OK). If there are only two items A,B with "and" between, then no comma is needed.

Let n be a positive integer and let A be an n x n matrix. Then A is said to be singular iff ...

GEdgar
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