mathematics - Should I use hyphens with prefixes like "sub" and "semi"?





When is it necessary to use a hyphen in writing a compound word?



Some English texts, use the prefix sub put before a given proper word with "-" between them, for example sub-zero, while in the Mathematical contexts there is no such that "-", for example subgroup or subfield. The same story could be seen for semi. Which way for showing that is right or is better.



Answer



Whichever way is standard for a given word. As a general rule, the hyphen is more likely to be used in situations where you're expected to read "sub-" as a separate unit, and it gets lost when the entire compound word gets common enough to be perceived as an entity in and of itself.


As such, there can be migration from one to the other over time. For example, I'm pretty sure people are more likely to prefer "email" to "e-mail" than they were 10 or 15 years ago.


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