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In the U.S. I would study math. In Britain, I would study maths. What gives?

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I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with the word mathematic_s_ but I don't know. – Matt Эллен Feb 8 '11 at 22:15
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Not exactly a dupe...he's asking WHY. – Chris B. Behrens Feb 8 '11 at 22:32
Because difference must be. – rightfold Feb 8 '11 at 22:47
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The real question is why math(s) is different but stats is the same. – Peter Taylor Feb 8 '11 at 23:57
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2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

There's a lot of debate about which is right (!), but not much about why there's a difference - good question.

I found this:

The word Mathematics was first used in English in 1581, coming from the Latin word Mathematica. Since the -a suffix in Latin denotes a plural, the word was automatically pluralised when translated to English, even though the word itself is always used as a singular.

The abbreviation "Math" came first. The first recorded usage is in 1891. The British abbreviation "Maths" is not recorded until 1911. Based on this it seems reasonable to assume that either both countries developed the abbreviation separately or the British picked up the American abbreviation but then chose to pluralise it.

Unfortunately this information is unattributed, but it's the only theory I can dig up. In full here: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/15988#ixzz1DPW8I322

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It may be worth noting that physics and metaphysics were both also reproduced as plurals from their original Greek words; it seems neater to me that the abbreviation retains the plurality - but then I'm British ;) – gpr Feb 8 '11 at 23:07
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Google NGram shows "math" in use from the 1700s, and much more common than "maths" since their earliest records; ngrams.googlelabs.com/… – Dour High Arch Feb 9 '11 at 5:23
@Dour High Arch - great stats! Good to get some actual data instead of random assertions from the interweb :) – gpr Feb 9 '11 at 6:04
Curiously the stats for "physic" versus "physics" show quite different trends ngrams.googlelabs.com/… possibly because they aren't exact synonyms. – Massif Feb 9 '11 at 12:11
@Massif - physic is an old word for "medicine", both in the sense of the art or discipline ("the art of physic") and in the sense of the actual stuff that the physician prescribes (including a toxic seed, Jatropha curcas, called the "physic nut.") At least in the few minutes I gave it, I only found one case where "physic" was used synonymously with "physics": a bad translation from Swedish. I wonder why "physic" has disappeared - is it the possibility of confusion, perhaps? – MT_Head Jun 7 '11 at 16:22
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Math or Maths are shortenings of "mathematics". As mathematics is a plural it is generally held that the abbreviation should be a plural (except in the US). Thus "maths"

Although "math" is widely adopted It isn't correct.

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[citation needed] – Dour High Arch Feb 9 '11 at 5:30
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"Mathematics is hard" or "mathematics are hard"? Since it is the former, clearly mathematics is not a plural. – Kosmonaut Feb 9 '11 at 13:24
You'd better take that up with Apple's dictionary re: plural noun: twitpic.com/3xzpdu – Tom Ravenscroft Feb 9 '11 at 13:37
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Discrete, Continuous, Multivariate, Constructive, Combinatorial - alas - Mathematics are hard. – Xantix Sep 12 '12 at 7:14

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