How can I rewrite equations with conflicting indices?

Question

I am writing a paper where I have to define theoretical background of the techniques I've used (I'm from the field of Computer Science). However, since I have little mathematical writing background, my advisor noted that I should check conflicting variables among the definitions. According to him, sometimes I'm using the same variable (i.e. $n$) for temporal and sample indexing (in different contexts).

Most of my equations are like this:

${x}_i(n) = \phi\left(\mathbf{u}(n), \mathbf{c}_i, \sigma_i \right)$

Is there any other way of writing a function like $f(n)$? Or should i just use another letter (e.g. $f(k)$)?

I can provide more details if needed.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I'm not from a computing background, but from a mathematical context it seems to me that you would be right to use different variables, such as f(k) instead of f(n). Similarly, you might use subscripts after the variable instead, such as k subscript T for temporal. Personally, I would double check with your advisor too.