Dear Editor,
A teacher of English recently questioned the term “one times three,”
contending that it is wrong and it should be “one time three.”
I pointed out that even the Oxford Pocket School Dictionary (2005) will offer guidance, not to mention other reliable updated dictionaries.
The dictionary has:
times Plural Noun(in mathematics) multiplied by. Five times three is 15 (5 x
3 = 15). Hence, from my analysis, “1 multiplied by three” is synonymous with “one times three.” It is therefore totally incorrect to say in mathematics “one time three,” since time does not mean “multiplied by.”
Had the teacher of English been functioning as a teacher of mathematics, he/she would have been aware that the Easy Path Mathematics Texts promote “one times..” and not “one time.”
I stand ready to be corrected.
Yours faithfully,
Krishna Nand Prasad
