Mathematica Tutorial

The Four Kinds of Bracketing in Mathematica

There are four kinds of bracketing used in Mathematica. Each kind of bracketing has a very different meaning. It is important that you remember all of them.

(term)	parentheses for grouping
f[x]	square brackets for functions
{a,b,c}	curly braces for lists
v[[i]]	double brackets for indexing (Part[v, i])

The four kinds of bracketing in Mathematica.

When the expressions you type in are complicated, it is often a good idea to put extra space inside each set of brackets. This makes it somewhat easier for you to see matching pairs of brackets. v[[ {a, b} ]] is, for example, easier to recognize than v[[{a, b}]].