What’s the plural of “formula”?
How should you refer to more than one formula, or to state it differently: what’s the proper plural of formula?
As it sometimes happens in English, two different versions are both correct ways to refer to the plural of formula; though the contexts in which either form appears differs slightly.
Is the plural of formula formulas or formulae?
Both formulas and formulae are accepted plurals for the singular noun, formula.
- Formulas is common than formulae in informal writing and text.
- Formulae is the original Latin plural form, and is more common in scientific or academic writing.
Formulas is the appropriated plural that uses the regular plural noun form of attaching an -s.
Formula is defined in the dictionary as:
A standard or accepted way of doing or making something: We have changed the formula of the washing powder. There’s no magic formula for success.
Formula or formulae?
Formula/formulae belong to the category of irregular nouns in English that have maintained its Latin form. The suffixes –a and -ae are distinctly Latin, and share the same form as these other nouns in English:
| singular | plural |
| vertebra | vertebrae or vertebras |
| antenna | antennae and antennas |
| larva | larvae and larvas |
| formula | formulae or formulas |
| nebula | nebulae or nebulas |
“Formula”, singular, used in sentences
1. It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.
2. English philosopher and scientist Roger Bacon introduced a gunpowder formula to Europe in 1242.
3. We have changed the formula of the washing powder.
4. The students could not figure out the math problem until their teacher provided them with a helpful formula.
5. Every morning before I went to school I had chores to do, which began with mixing up the formula and feeding the calves.
“Formulas” / “formulae”, plural, used in sentences
1. Consider the formulae we regularly use to direct or punctuate the flow of conversation and often, too, to indicate the speaker’s attitude to the person addressed.
2. There are many formulae for solutions.
3. He calculated the answer to the math problems using the formulae provided by the teacher.
4. Buckhardt, whose formulae were used in the calculation of the Nautical Almanac for many years, employs no less than 37 equations of the Moon’s mean longitude.
5. The teacher wrote the mathematical formulae necessary to complete the test on the board before beginning the exam.
Origin of the word formula
From etymology online on formula (n.):
1630s, “words used in a ceremony or ritual” (earlier as a Latin word in English), from Latin formula “form, draft, contract, regulation”.
Read more about nouns
Sources
- Harper Douglas, “Etymology of formula,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed January 15, 2023, https://www.etymonline.com/word/formula.
- “Formula.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/formula. Accessed 15 Jan. 2023.
