∨ is the mathematical symbol for “or” (in logic) -- my guess is that it may be derived from the fact that the initial letter of the Latin word for “or” is “v”. There’s a kinda convention that when you have a(n associative) binary operator, you use a bigger version of it to signify applying it to all the things in a sequence or set, so you’d want a larger one—a bit like a capital “V”.
⊤ is the mathematical symbol for the “top” element of a Boolean algebra; maybe more generally of a lattice. You wouldn’t use it to mean “maximum of these things” in general.
That’s one of the two possibilities I’ve found over the past day. The other is ⊤ from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_element .
(I wonder if presenting this idea to an actual mathematician would induce any wincing? Off to /r/math to find out...)
∨ is the mathematical symbol for “or” (in logic) -- my guess is that it may be derived from the fact that the initial letter of the Latin word for “or” is “v”. There’s a kinda convention that when you have a(n associative) binary operator, you use a bigger version of it to signify applying it to all the things in a sequence or set, so you’d want a larger one—a bit like a capital “V”.
⊤ is the mathematical symbol for the “top” element of a Boolean algebra; maybe more generally of a lattice. You wouldn’t use it to mean “maximum of these things” in general.