Talk:Outer space (mathematics)

Is it "Outer space" or "outer space"?

Throughout the article, the "Outer" in "Outer space" is consistently capitalized, suggesting that "Outer" might be a proper noun (though it is probably meant as some kind of pun on Out(G), the group of outer automorphisms of a group G). The capitalization used at Outer space (mathematics) is consistent with the capitalization used at Karen Vogtmann, but conflicts with the capitalization at Out(Fn)#Outer space. This leaves me wondering whether this might be some idiosynchracy of Wikipedia. Is "Outer space" usually capitalized in the literature? – Tea2min (talk) 15:04, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

As far as I know, there is not a complete consistency on this point in the literature, but capitalizing "Outer" in "Outer space" seems to be the prevalent usage. In particular, Karen Vogtmann herself does capitalize "Outer", e.g. see here and also here. Nsk92 (talk) 15:15, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Thank you! Do you think the article should mention this? – Tea2min (talk) 20:38, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

I don't think that's really necessary. When I have some free time I'll try to do a more extensive literature search to see of there is any explicit discussion of the "Outer" capitalization in the literature; if there is such discussion, it may be useful to mention something about it in the article then. Nsk92 (talk) 21:08, 22 May 2019 (UTC)