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TerryMoore_2012-_为什么_x_代表未知数_
I have the answer to a question that we've all asked. 我来回答一个大家都问过的问题。
The question is, 这个问题是,
Why is it that the letter X represents the unknown? 为什么字母“X” 代表着未知数？
represents:v.代表;维护…的利益;相当于;(represent的第三人称单数)
Now I know we learned that in math class, but now it's everywhere in the culture -- 我知道这在数学课学过, 现在它在日常文化里也随处可见
The X prize, the X-Files, X奖,X档案,
Project X, TEDx. Projet X,TEDx。
Where'd that come from? 这些都是从哪里来的？
About six years ago 大约六年前,
I decided that I would learn Arabic, which turns out to be a supremely logical language. 我决定学习阿拉伯语, 这是一个非常有逻辑性的语言。
supremely:adv.至上地;崇高地; logical:adj.合逻辑的,合理的;逻辑学的;
To write a word or a phrase or a sentence in Arabic is like crafting an equation , because every part is extremely precise and carries a lot of information. 每用阿拉伯语写一个词 或一个句子, 就如编解一道方程, 因为它的每一部分都非常精确 还伴随着很多信息。
crafting:n.工艺;手工艺;v.精巧地制作;加工制作(craft的ing形式); equation:n.方程式,等式;相等;[化学]反应式; extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地; precise:adj.准确的;确切的;精确的;明确的;
That's one of the reasons so much of what we've come to think of as Western science and mathematics and engineering was really worked out in the first few centuries of the Common Era by the Persians and the Arabs and the Turks . 这是为什么 大多数的我们认为 西方的科学、数学和技术 都是在公元最初的世纪 被波斯人、阿拉伯人和土耳其人所发明的原因之一。
mathematics:n.数学;数学运算; engineering:n.工程;工程学;v.密谋策划;设计制造;改变…的基因;(engineer的现在分词) Common Era:n.公元; Persians:n.波斯人;波斯语;百叶窗;波斯绸;adj.波斯的;(persians是Persian的复数); Turks:n.土耳其人;突厥人(Turk的复数形式);
This includes the little system in Arabic called al-jebra. 这其中包括一个在阿拉伯语中称为 “al-jabr”的系统。
And al-jebr roughly translates to "the system for reconciling disparate parts." 而“al-jabr”大致的意思是 “一套将无关‘代’化成相关的体系”。
roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地; reconciling:调解; disparate:adj.不同的;不相干的;全异的;n.无法相比的东西;
Al-jebr finally came into English as algebra . 后来“Al-jabr”变成了英文中的代数。
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; algebra:n.代数学;
One example among many. 这是众多（关于阿拉伯语的）例子之一。
The Arabic texts containing this mathematical wisdom finally made their way to Europe -- which is to say Spain -- in the 11th and 12th centuries. 最终,带有数学智慧的阿拉伯文学 传播到了欧洲, 确切的来说,也就是说西班牙-- 在11和12世纪。
mathematical:adj.数学的,数学上的;精确的; wisdom:n.智慧;明智;才智;学问;
And when they arrived there was tremendous interest in translating this wisdom into a European language. 而它们的到来 在当时社会,人们有着浓厚的兴趣 想要把这个智慧 翻译成为欧洲的语言。
tremendous:adj.极大的,巨大的;惊人的;极好的;
But there were problems. 但是问题也随着出现了。
One problem is there are some sounds in Arabic that just don't make it through a European voice box without lots of practice. 其中一个问题说的是 阿拉伯语中存在一些发音 是欧洲人无论如何也无法发出的 如果没有经过大量的练习。
Trust me on that one. 这点您可相信我
Also, those very sounds tend not to be represented by the characters that are available in European languages. 此外,这些发音 往往不能被 欧洲语言中已有的字母来表示。
represented:v.代表; (represent的过去式和过去分词)
Here's one of the culprits . 有这么一个例子,
culprits:n.犯人,罪犯;被控犯罪的人;
This is the letter SHeen , and it makes the sound we think of as SH -- "sh." 这是字母“SHeen”, 它对应我们英文中SH的发音－“sh”。
SHeen:n.光辉,光泽,光彩;adj.光辉的;有光泽的;华丽的;vi.闪耀;发光;
It's also the very first letter of the word shalan, which means "something" 它也是 “shalan”这个词的首字母, 意思是 “某物”。
just like the the English word "something" -- some undefined , unknown thing. 就跟英语中的“某物 (something)”一个意思, 代表某些未定义或未知的东西。
undefined:adj.不明确的;未下定义的;
Now in Arabic, we can make this definite by adding the definite article "al." 而在阿拉伯语中, 它可以变得有意义 当我们写上定冠词 “al”之后
definite article:n.定冠词(如英语中的the);
So this is al-shalan -- the unknown thing. 这是 al-shalan, 代表着“未知的东西”。
And this is a word that appears throughout early mathematics, such as this 10th century derivation of proofs . 而这个单词的行踪贯穿于早期数学, 比如在这个10世纪的证明题里。
throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及; derivation:n.引出;来历;词源;派生词; proofs:n.证明;证据(proof的复数);校稿;
The problem for the Medieval Spanish scholars who were tasked with translating this material is that the letter SHeen and the word shalan can't be rendered into Spanish because Spanish doesn't have that SH, that "sh" sound. 当时负责翻译这些材料的 中世纪西班牙学者遇到了难题 这个“SHee”字母和“shalan” 一词 无法用西班牙语表达 因为西班牙语中没有“SH”的 “sh”发音。
Medieval:adj.中世纪的;原始的;仿中世纪的;老式的; scholars:n.学者们(scholar的复数); rendered:v.使成为;给予;提供;回报;递交;(render的过去分词和过去式)
So by convention , they created a rule in which they borrowed the CK sound, "ck" sound, from the classical Greek in the form of the letter Kai. 所以依照惯例, 他们创建了一个规则, 他们借用“CK”的发音－“ck”, 这来自于古希腊语中的 字母“X (Kai)”。
convention:n.习俗;惯例;协定;常规; classical:adj.古典的;经典的;传统的;第一流的;n.古典音乐;
Later when this material was translated into a common European language, which is to say Latin , they simply replaced the Greek Kai with the Latin X. 后来,当这篇文章被翻译成为 一个欧洲的通用语言, 也就是拉丁语, 他们简单的把希腊语中的“X (Kai)” 用拉丁语中的“X”代替。
Latin:adj.拉丁语的;用拉丁语写成的;n.拉丁语;
And once that happened, once this material was in Latin, it formed the basis for mathematics textbooks for almost 600 years. 一旦这实现了, 一旦翻译成了拉丁语, 它就为数学教科书打下了基础 从此至今已将近600年。
But now we have the answer to our question. 我们现在有了一开始问题的答案。
Why is it that X is the unknown? 为什么是“X”代表着未知数？
X is the unknown because you can't say "sh" in Spanish. “X”是未知数 因为你无法在西班牙语中发 sh 这个音。
(Laughter) （笑）
And I thought that was worth sharing. 我认为这值得共享。
(Applause) （掌声）