Question

What does shorthand notation mean?

Answer 1

It's when you get lazy and decide to write abbreviations for what you're actually meaning.

Some examples:

• Aluminum `->` `"Al"`
• "with respect to" `->` `"w.r.t."`
• Journal of Chemical Physics `->` `"J. Chem. Phys."`
• Chromium(III) cation `->` `"Cr"^(3+)`, or `"Cr"("III")`

You could also mean noble gas shorthand electron configurations:

`stackrel(Ne)overbrace(color(red)(1s^2 2s^2 2p^6)) 3s^2 = color(red)([Ne])3s^2`
(magnesium configuration)

`stackrel(Ar)overbrace(color(red)(1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6)) 4s^1 3d^10 = color(red)([Ar])4s^1 3d^10`
(copper configuration)

etc.