 In mathematical discourse, non-algebraic structures (such as ‘the’ natural numbers) and mathematical objects (such as ‘the’ number 1) are referred to by definite descriptions. This strongly suggests that mathematical symbols (N, 1) have a unique reference rather than a ‘distributed’ one as in rebus structuralism would have it. But in rebus structuralists argue that such mathematical symbols function as dedicated variables in much the same way as in ‘Tommy needs his letters from home’, a world war II slogan, the name ‘Tommy’ is chosen to stand for some arbitrary concrete soldier, and re-used on many occasions without changing its reference (Pettigrew 2008).