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As already stated, normal rules would require a full stop, and most dictionaries list max. and min. as abbreviations with full stops only. These include Oxford online, Collins and Macmillan, among UK-oriented dictionaries, and also American Heritage, for example. But the Oxford Learners Dictionary has this:
It seems pretty strange to me to treat them differently. It must be said, though, that there is a general trend towards dispensing with full stops in abbreviations, particularly in British English; familiar cases are BrE USA and PhD vs AmE U.S.A. (often) and Ph.D. The Oxford Learners entry for max reflects this view.
In some of the specific technical fields in which I work, I find myself going aginst my better judgement and traditional grammar rules and leaving out the full-stops — albeit for very specific reasons. 1) In some places, there may be algebraic expressions that use quantities like I [subscript]max, and using the full-stops there only clutters the already complexe expressions 2) Following on from that, when talking about these same quantities but writing them out in full, it seems somehow perverse to re-insert the full-stops, which again do little except clutter up the whole text. 3) In the specific context of some of these mathematical equations, units, etc., wherein (despite my own reservations) the '.' is commonly used for multiplication, the presence of other spurious full-stops could be downright confusing. I realize these are entirely 'special circumstances', but I just thought it might be worth throwing into the melting pot.
Start posting another Q, delete the contents of the "Write-in field (For further specification)", enter something in the Term and Explanation/Context fields, then at the bottom of the template click on "Next step (and save settings for future questions)". Then exit your Q (without actually posting it). Next time you post a Q the box with "fancy pants" should be empty.
once, long, long ago, I posted a question, and entered "fancy pants abstract job" in the write-in field. now, every time I post a new question, the same damn phrase is automatically entered, and unless I remember to delete it manually, it gets re-entered. every time. Is there any way to stop this from happening?