Meanings
- derogatoryuncountablemathematicsThe practice of solving mathematical problems by manipulating symbols (as in algebra) rather than through visual or intuitive understanding.
Now, before going any further, and to help convince you that this isn't all just "symbol pushing," let me show you an application of Fourier series that often occurs in mathematical physics.
2021, Paul J. Nahin, How to Fall Slower Than Gravity, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 1292 more examples
The fact that we eventually reach a formulation free from logic (in terms of functional analysis) does not invalidate the use of logical tools: in fact the simplest way to prove termination (i.e. nilpotency) will always be standard logical manipulation, "symbol pushing"; but the existence of a model for this symbol pushing obviously brings in new methods, insights, etc.
1989, R. Ferro, Logic Colloquium '88, Elsevier Science, →ISBN, page 223Other mathematicians abhor visual proofs and only recognize 'symbol pushing'. Ideally, that would lead to a mathematics that would be fully independent of the human mind, and be simply the (uninterpreted!) output of a Turing machine.
2015, The Oxford Handbook of Perceptual Organization, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 47
Cite this entry
symbol pushing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symbol%20pushing
“symbol pushing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symbol%20pushing. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “symbol pushing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symbol%20pushing.
Source: symbol pushing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.