Nonnegative vs non-negative

When you write about integers that are not negative, do you write "non-negative integers" or "nonnegative integers" in papers in US English?

EDIT:

In https://ieeecs-media.computer.org/media/conferences/cpstemplates/8.5x11x2/instruct8.5x11x2.pdf we see

The prefix “non” is not a word; it should be joined to the word it modifies, usually without a hyphen.

The really diffuse word above is "usually". :-)


Doug West, who has written an extensive grammar guide for mathematical writing, had this to say about the subject:

When a word in English initially has a negation introduced by prefixing "non", the resulting word is hyphenated. The initial sense is the negation, so the hyphen is appropriate. As decades pass and the word is accepted on its own, it becomes a positive concept incorporating the "non". This and familiarity lead to dropping the hyphen. Some of the most familiar examples in mathematics are "nonsingular", "nontrivial", "nonzero", and "nonconstructive". Adding hyphens to these words is now jarring to more readers than is the absence of hyphens. I also use "nonempty", "nonnegative", "nonneighor", and "nonadjacent". However, I would keep the hyphen in "non-word" and "non-edge", for clarity and infrequency.

In particular, "non-negative" might be seen, but "nonnegative" is on the rise enough to be preferred by someone who has clearly given a lot of thought to the grammar of mathematical writing.


This conclusion is backed up by the anecdata in the comments:

Jair Taylor reports:

Glancing at the papers of a few authors I trust, it seems to be a wash. e.g., Terry Tao and William Thurston both seem to prefer non-negative, while Richard Stanley and John Lee prefer nonnegative.

Michael had a reviewer insist on nonnegative.

And The Count agrees that "nonnegative" is on the rise.


The American Mathematical Society Style Guide states on page 92, section 12.7.5.3

Do not hyphenate words formed with the prefixes ... “non-” ...

Similarly, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Style Manual states on page 40, section 3.6.6

Don’t hyphenate words formed with the prefixes ... "non-" ...

Both guides refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for exceptions.