[tsimionescu]

I think the main difference is that in programming you typically use names from your domain, like "request" or "student". But math objects are all very abstract, they don't denote any domain. For example, if I have a triangle and I want to name its vertexes so I can refer to them later, what would be a good name? Should I call them vertexA, vertexB, and vertexC just so it's not a single letter?