Words that count: communicating with mathematical text

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Abstract
Effective communication with mathematical text often seems difficult. Factors which affect it include, for instance, complex syntax and words with everyday and specialized meanings. Formulae exist for assessing some aspects of the potential reading difficulty of mathematical text but they draw on word lists which may be time and culture specific and are time consuming to use. This study shows that at least one of these formulae has predictive value for the level of reading difficulty of some UK mathematical text. Some readily applied alternatives which are independent of word lists are also offered. Of course, making sense of words and sentences is not all there is to constructing meaning. Even when such difficulties are overcome, the reader must often integrate the elements to make a meaningful whole. These formulae may be useful for assessing aspects of text which affect the early steps in the process of making sense of what is read.

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