Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-usage><word-choice><prepositions>
Title: Difference between 'One to One' and 'One on One'
Question: I have been confused about the difference between " one  to  one " and " one  on  one ".  Which one is more appropriate of the following?   We will have  one  to  one  meeting?  We will have  one  on  one  meeting?

Answers:
sents: text: I'd say the phrase ' one-on-one meeting ' sounds much more natural.
text: The term ' one-to-one ' is more often used in the with any of the following: one-to-one relationship one-to-one function one-to-one mapping
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/2219/p.s.w.g
score: 17
sents: text: one-on-one is used to talk about meetings between two people.
text: When there is a discussion we can call it a one-on-one discussion ; as an alternative for a face to face confrontation and in interviews (quite often political ones on TV).
text: one to one (with or without hyphens) is an expression often used in teaching.
text: When students are paired in class; and in teaching one to one , i.e. a teacher with a private student (a client) or an individual student as opposed to a class.
text: It is used in the campaign: "one to one computing" which promotes a computer for every student and teacher.
text: In BrEng one-to-one (with hyphens) is used in the following: one-to-one discussion ; one-to-one talk ; and one-to-one interview as in " Interviews will be on a one-to-one basis. "
text: Finally, one-to-one in Mathematics: "Maths characterized by or involving the pairing of each member of one set with only one member of another set, without remainder."
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/1694/Mari-Lou A
score: 16
sents: text: One-to-one is used to describe transfer and mapping.
text: In mathematics, a one-to-one function is a function where every element in the range corresponds to one element in the domain.
text: One-on-one is used to describe meetings between two individuals, as per your question.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/2220/Andrew Ng
score: 14
sents: text: It's more appropriate to say One on One.
text: One to One sounds more like a technical term to denote mapping between two elements.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 2
sents: text: Both could be used interchangeably.
text: However,'One-to-One' indicates a more formal tête-à-tête whereas 'One-on-One' refers to a confrontational situation between two people.
text: A 'One-to-One' meeting definitely sounds more appropriate.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 1
sents: text: One on one would be the appropriate use here.
text: When you are having a one on one meeting or discussion, typically it is a informal conversation or a touch base if you will.
text: One to one would signify a relationship between two entities.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/24449/nykc
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Some people claim that 'One-to-One' indicates a more formal tête-à-tête whereas 'One-on-One' may imply a confrontational situation between two people. Conversely, others say that one-on-one  is used to describe meetings between two individuals. Therefore, both can be used. one to one  (with or without hyphens) is an expression often used in teaching.
One-to-one is more technical and is indicative of a relationship. It is also used in mathematics. One-on-one is more natural for meetings.