> Is it because they deal in more abstract entities where the name is irrelevant?
That sounds right. Also, there are standards for variable names that everyone is familiar with in math, so those letters actually have meaning. As most of my code is not purely for implementing pure math algorithms, I haven't almost ever written code where a variable couldn't have been named with a word describing it or its use. It makes understanding and maintaining the code a lot easier when it is self-documenting.
That sounds right. Also, there are standards for variable names that everyone is familiar with in math, so those letters actually have meaning. As most of my code is not purely for implementing pure math algorithms, I haven't almost ever written code where a variable couldn't have been named with a word describing it or its use. It makes understanding and maintaining the code a lot easier when it is self-documenting.