Are algebraic symbols ever found in manuals?

(I do not endorse this advice from 1919.)

Returning to my list from the other day: an instalment of Things I Have Meant To Write About In The Last Month.

Tartan
When I was a wee daisy, my grandmother and her next-door neighbour would indulge in an annual dahlia growing contest, which I did not understand because I thought their dahlias were hideous. But, heaven help me, I've turned into my grandmother because I bought a dahlia bulb called Tartan this year and I love it. ( Look at it! )

Maybe year I'll take another leaf from my grandmother's book and grow lots of them and lord it over the Next Doors' complete lack of them.