I'll be doing a workshop on set design at a conference in September and will have a slide of Albert Einstein drawing a set on a blackboard with the caption "Not rocket science." But, just 'cause I'm me, I want to also have "to be or not to be" as an equation on the slide. I'm thinking of something like "2b [sign for not equal] 2b." Is there a better way to say "or not" than the "not equal" sign? Thanks much.

In set theory, the common way of abbreviating "or" looks like a capital "V" (without serifs), and the common abbreviation for "not" is a tilde (~); you want to write:

2b V ~2b

I'd probably should put parentheses around the expression.

I learned that the boolean "not" looked more like a dash with a short downward vertical stroke at the right. The tilde was used as "similar" in Geometry and as "approximately" in Algebra, to my recollection.

I remember some wags writing symbolically a sentence that read "For all upside-down As there exists a backwards E such that a backwards lower case epsilon implies an arrow." Pretty nerdy, no?

2xb(2)=4

There are a few standard symbols for "not". You can use the tilde ~ or, as Opus notes, the dash with the tail. I have no idea what it's called, but it's 00AC in the Word Symbol picker (Unicode).

2b V ~2b

or

2b V 00AC 2b

(BTW, the OR symbol isn't quite the same as a text v, but without serifs, it's as close as you'll need.)

Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_logic_symbols

Aw shoot, I see that I repeated Bill's line. Sorry about that.

Last one, and I am not ashamed to admit that I do not fully 'get' this one.

The most important thing is the right chalk.

http://gizmodo.com/why-mathematicians-ar......11008881

I miss chalk. Every time I write on a whiteboard, I am bothered (truly and seriously) by the fact that the marker creates toxic, non-biodegradable waste. I don't mind a bit of dust, if it's the best alternative to plastic, xylene and god knows what else.

Geez, back in school I never knew math could be so much fun!

Seriously, that's a lot more than I expected, and thank you. I'll post the final slide when I get a chance.

Who made me the genius I am today?

The mathematician that others all quote.

Who's the professor that made me that way?

The greatest that ever got chalk on his coat!

- Tom Lehrer, Lobachevski