Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Notation has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
a technical system of symbols used to represent special things
"The musical notation uses specific symbols to indicate pitch, rhythm, and dynamics."
a comment or instruction (usually added)
"his notes were appended at the end of the article"
"he added a short notation to the address on the envelope"
the activity of representing something by a special system of marks or characters
"The music teacher spent hours on notation, carefully translating every melody into written musical symbols."
The act, process, method, or an instance of representing by a system or set of marks, signs, figures, or characters.
"The mathematical notation uses symbols to represent complex operations concisely."
In plain English: Notation is a system of symbols used to represent something, such as musical notes on staff lines or mathematical formulas for equations.
"The teacher asked students to write down their answers in short notation on the whiteboard."
Usage: Notation refers to the specific system of symbols used to represent information, such as musical staves or mathematical formulas. It is often confused with "note," which describes individual entries within that system rather than the entire method itself.
The word comes from the Latin notātiō, which originally meant a mark made on something. It entered English through French with this same sense of recording information by writing symbols.