[General] Dec. 2011

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rainous

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Is it acceptable in formal writing to write just an abbreviated form of month and then year,
as in "Dec. 2011"?

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Tdol

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Is there a pressing need?
 

rainous

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No.

It's more like self-imposed pressing needs.

I was writing an employment reference letter and wondering if there was a proper way to write periods without including date since there is no need to be that specific?

For example, I want to write something like "Dec. 2010 ~ Jun. 2011" but is it acceptable?
 

5jj

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If it's in a table or list it may be acceptable,but not in a sentence.
 

Raymott

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No.

It's more like self-imposed pressing needs.

I was writing an employment reference letter and wondering if there was a proper way to write periods without including date since there is no need to be that specific?

For example, I want to write something like "Dec. 2010 ~ Jun. 2011" but is it acceptable?
I personally wouldn't have a problem with it, but use a hyphen ( - ) to mean 'to', not a tilde ( ~ ).
Some people associate the tilde with approximation, so your phrase might read "from December 2010 to about June 2011".
 

BobK

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Good point. I expect this is something to do with the mathematical symbol for 'is approximately equal to': ≈ (I think, but I'm not a mathematician).

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Raymott

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Good point. I expect this is something to do with the mathematical symbol for 'is approximately equal to': ≈ (I think, but I'm not a mathematician).

b
Nor am I, but when I was in med. school, all our professors used it for non-mathematical shorthand to mean "about".
"PR ~ 72" (Pulse rate around 72 beats/min), etc.
"Laceration on L arm ~ 3cm long."

(I don't count guessing approximate measurements as mathematics.)
 

Barb_D

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No.

It's more like self-imposed pressing needs.

I was writing an employment reference letter and wondering if there was a proper way to write periods without including date since there is no need to be that specific?

For example, I want to write something like "Dec. 2010 ~ Jun. 2011" but is it acceptable?

In any sort of running prose (not a table), I suggest you write December 2010 to June 2011. For an employment reference letter, which is on the formal side of the spectrum, I advise it even more strongly.
 

birdeen's call

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Nor am I, but when I was in med. school, all our professors used it for non-mathematical shorthand to mean "about".
"PR ~ 72" (Pulse rate around 72 beats/min), etc.
"Laceration on L arm ~ 3cm long."

(I don't count guessing approximate measurements as mathematics.)
Yes, this is the difference. "~" means approximately. "≈" means is approximately equal.

1.99 ≈ 2
~10cm of tape.
 

BobK

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Yes, this is the difference. "~" means approximately. "≈" means is approximately equal.

1.99 ≈ 2
~10cm of tape.

I was guessing at a derivation to explain the 'approximate' use of the tilde (perhaps by people who weren't aware of the background). I didn't know the single-tilde had that technical meaning (which presumably explains the double-tilde symbol). ;(But, in terms of derivation, one of them must have come first - unless they were simultaneously and/or independently coined (all of which suppositions strike me as unlikely ;-))

b
 

birdeen's call

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What I wrote is just the most common distinction. There are certainly many deviations from this in literature. There is also an abundance of other tilde-derived symbols in mathematics, like ≅, ≅ or ≃. (I'm not really sure whether the first two signs are different. I thought they were when I copied them, but they look the same now. The first was supposed to have three straight bars and the second two. The last one has one straight bar.)
 
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