NOT.2:1 - Problem frame

Use this when a notation needs rules for combining expressions or referring to their parts, and the proposed marks leave those rules unclear. Readers may disagree about an operation’s operands, the declaration an occurrence of a name uses, or which connections join two components.

The working question is “How can another user construct and recover the intended arrangement under these rules?” Start with one expression that admits two consequentially different readings. Give its components explicit places, make their grouping and references recoverable, and use the resulting construction to perform the intended operation.

The result is a small set of formation, binding and connection rules demonstrated by an expression and a contrasting case. These rules can support mathematical formulas, diagrammatic descriptions or structured sequences. A complete grammar or software parser is needed only when the work requires it.

The reader must know what the relevant components and operations mean, or obtain that account from a practitioner. The examples below require elementary arithmetic and the stated conventions. Theory of formal languages and category theory are optional tools for extending or proving properties of a scheme.

Use the rules already provided by a suitable notation when they settle the question. A.6.3.RT.OE helps construct an operative expression under such a scheme. Use NOT.1 first if the work has not yet determined which distinctions or operations the notation must support.