Is it regional? It doesn't have anything to do with mathematics. In the US, 'mathematics' was first shortened to 'math' in the mids. In the UK, citations from onward show 'maths' being used as the standard term.
In the UK, around the same time, a different abbreviation was taking hold. See the S on the end? It describes a thing—a field of study—not many things.
While there is some debate here, this seems to have come about owing to a common convention around the time mathematics popped into English where it was en vogue to use a plural name for different fields of study, such as economics, linguistics, physics, acoustics, etc. This practice seems to have been adopted borrowing from the related terms in Ancient Greek, like physika or, in this case, mathematika.
At my university, we have an Engineering Physics department. When talking, it is commonly abbreviate to Eng. Phys, pronounced as Enj Fizz.
I actually use a mix of British and American spelling, because it turns out, and you could do some research into that, that my grandmother was not taught to spell the way we spell in the United States now, and my mother picked up on that.
But there are some things about me that are American, I prefer to say math over maths, as I have a very difficult time pronouncing the ths sound. With regards to mass nouns, I mean I would say the Beatles were an English rock band, but it would be completely correct to say The Beatles was an English rock band, although it would sound wrong to my ears. Your email address will not be published.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Math or Maths? September 26, Melissa 8 comments. Travis T. In other cases, the differences between British and American English words are much more subtle. For instance, American English uses the term racecar , while British English uses the word racing car. British and American English employ many different spelling approaches.
Take our spelling challenge to see how well you know the difference. In still other cases, British and American English words differ by just one letter, as in the case of math and maths. British English includes U in the spelling of French-derived words, such as colour or favourite , which American English omits. This also happens with the words sport and sports. Feedback Dictionary. Word of the Day. Meanings Meanings. What does math mean? What does maths mean? This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
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