ABSTRACT
Geology is frequently regarded as a qualitative (i.e. descriptive) science. Geological discussions often revolve around questions about what happened and in what order. However, the geological information can be described quantitatively (i.e. by numbers). It is possible to produce mathematical expressions relating geological variables to each other. The ability to manipulate and combine mathematical expressions can lead to new insight into geological processes. The use of Greek letters extensively throughout mathematics is really just a tradition although it does have the benefit of doubling the number of available symbols. Scientific notation is the most flexible of the methods for discussing the very large and the very small geological problems.
