[bradly]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I came across a "white lie" in a paper(https://arxiv.org/html/2502.06137v2#S3.SS2) yesterday:

> Throughout this section, we use A≈B to mean that A and B are essentially equal, in the sense that B is a suitable approximation of A in some sense that we will formalize in a later section. The reader may feel free to assume A=B when verifying estimates, even though A=B is generally false.

Is that when this would be needed?

[wizzwizz4]

No: you would want to formalise (or axiomatise) the notion of A≈B: assuming A=B when A≠B lets you prove basically whatever you like.