Are multiple colons in technical papers allowed? [closed]

Question

Here is the context:

There is a set of parameters defined by them, x: the number of boys, y: the number of girls, and z: the overall population size.

I feel the punctuation usage is kind of a mess here, but I can't figure out how it could be corrected.

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When I searched for the usage of colons on Internet, there are many discussions related to how colons are used to introduce a list or separate two clauses. In the sentence above neither applies. So I am wondering, is that a misuse?

Answer 1

The punctuation looks awkward but it is perfectly understandable. You could just leave out the colons.

Alternatively you could change your sentence to

There is a set of parameters defined by them; x is the number of boys, y is the number of girls, and z is the overall population size.

A mathematical article might say

Let x be the number of boys, let y be the number of girls, and let z be the overall population size.