I think it depends. In the context of a complex mathematical formula, where you have many intermediate results with very abstract meanings, I think it's more clear to use a single character name than to try to be descriptive with something like: `productOfLuminanceAndDotProductOfSurfaceNormalAndLightDirectionDividedByScatteringConstant`.
I think there are a lot of advantages to abiding by styling conventions and using linters to set a baseline, but there are always exceptions to the rule.
I understand that, but what in your mind would be a good replacement to name such a complex, abstract value? A long acronym perhaps? I don't see how that's any more clear or less arbitrary than a single character name.
I find that I can reason about code more effectively the shorter the variable names are. Rob Pike writes the same thing in the Practice of Programming.
I don't. One of the things I like most about eslint is the id-length rule - https://eslint.org/docs/rules/id-length