TED2012
Terry Moore: Why is 'x' the unknown?
Terry Moore: Maxay 'X' u tahay midaan la garanayn?
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Maxay 'X' ugu suntantahay midaan la garanayn? muxaadiradan gaaban ee xiisaha leh, Terry Moore wuxuu nagu siinayaa jawaab ta mucjisada ah.
Terry Moore - Thinker
Terry Moore is the director of the Radius Foundation, a forum for exploring and gaining insight from different worldviews. Full bio
Terry Moore is the director of the Radius Foundation, a forum for exploring and gaining insight from different worldviews. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
I have the answer to a question that we've all asked.
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Waxaan hayaa jawaabta suaasha aan dhamaanteen is waydiinay
00:20
The question is,
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suaashu waxay tahay,
00:21
Why is it that the letter X
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Sababta xarafka X
00:23
represents the unknown?
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ugu taaganyahay midkaan la garanayn?
00:25
Now I know we learned that in math class,
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iminka waxaan ogahay inaan taas ku soo baranay fasalka xisaabta,
00:28
but now it's everywhere in the culture --
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laakiin iminka meel kasta way ku jirtaa --
00:30
The X prize, the X-Files,
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X prize-ta X-files-ka,
00:33
Project X, TEDx.
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project X-ka, TEDx-ta
00:36
Where'd that come from?
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halkay taasi ka timid?
00:38
About six years ago
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qiyaastii lix sano ka hor
00:40
I decided that I would learn Arabic,
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waxaan go'aansaday inaan barto Carabida
00:42
which turns out to be a supremely logical language.
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taasoo u muuqata inay tahay luuqad caqliyeed oo sareysa.
00:46
To write a word or a phrase
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in la qoro kelmad ama kelmad isku xidhan
00:49
or a sentence in Arabic
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ama odhaah lagu qoro Carabi
00:50
is like crafting an equation,
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waa sida dhirindhirinta qaaciido,
00:53
because every part is extremely precise
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maxaa yeelay qayb kasta ilaa xad way cadahay
00:55
and carries a lot of information.
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waxayna sidaa xog aad u badan.
00:58
That's one of the reasons
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taas waa mid ka mida sababaha
00:59
so much of what we've come to think of
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inta waxay tahay inaynu kaga fekerno
01:01
as Western science and mathematics and engineering
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cilmiga reer galbeedka iyo xisaabta iyo muhadisnimada
01:04
was really worked out in the first few centuries of the Common Era
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in runtii ay hore uga shaqeeyeen qarniyadii ugu horeeyey ee Common Era (BC)
01:08
by the Persians and the Arabs and the Turks.
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Beershiyaanka, Carabta iyo Turkidu.
01:11
This includes the little system in Arabic
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tan waxaa ku jirta habka yar ee Carabiga ah
01:13
called al-jebra.
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ee lagu magcaabo Aljabra.
01:15
And al-jebr roughly translates to
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Aljabr waxaa sida caadiga lagu turjumaa
01:18
"the system for reconciling disparate parts."
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"habka laysugu xidhayo qaybaha kala baahsan."
01:22
Al-jebr finally came into English as algebra.
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Aljabr ugu danbayntii waxay ingiriisi isu bedeshay Algebra.
01:26
One example among many.
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tusaale ka mida waxyaalahas badan
01:28
The Arabic texts containing this mathematical wisdom
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qoraalka Carabida ee ay ku jirto xigmada xisaabtu
01:32
finally made their way to Europe --
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ugu danbayntii waxay timid Yurub--
01:34
which is to say Spain --
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taaso ah, aan dhaho Isbayn--
01:35
in the 11th and 12th centuries.
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qarnigii koobiyo tobnaan iyo labiyo tobnaad.
01:38
And when they arrived
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markay soo gaadhay
01:39
there was tremendous interest
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waxaa jirtay xiiso baaxad wayn
01:41
in translating this wisdom
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oo loo hayey u turjumida xikmadan
01:42
into a European language.
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luuqadaha reer Yurub.
01:44
But there were problems.
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laakiin waxaa jirtay dhibaatooyin.
01:46
One problem
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dhibaato ka mida
01:48
is there are some sounds in Arabic
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waxay ahayd tiraabta codka ee Carabida
01:51
that just don't make it through a European voice box
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taason lagu odhan karin codka reer Yurub
01:54
without lots of practice.
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iyadoon aad loogu celcelin.
01:56
Trust me on that one.
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taas iga rumaysta
01:58
Also, those very sounds
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sidoo kale, codadkaas iyaga ah
02:00
tend not to be represented
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waxay noqdeen kuwaan ka muuqan
02:02
by the characters that are available in European languages.
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xarfaha ku jira luuqadaha reer Yurub.
02:05
Here's one of the culprits.
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halkan waxaa ah mid ka mida khaladaadka
02:07
This is the letter SHeen,
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xarafkan waa shiin,
02:09
and it makes the sound we think of as SH -- "sh."
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waxayna samaysaa codka aan filayno inuu yahay shi'-- "sh'"
02:13
It's also the very first letter
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waana mid kamida xarfaha ugu horeeya
02:15
of the word shalan,
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ee kelmada shay'un,
02:18
which means "something"
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taasoo macnaheedu yahay "wuxuun"
02:19
just like the the English word "something" --
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sida kelmada Ingiriisida ee "wuxuun" --
02:21
some undefined, unknown thing.
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wax aan qayaxnayn, shay aan la garanayn.
02:24
Now in Arabic,
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iminka Carabida,
02:26
we can make this definite
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waxaan ka dhigi karnaa tan mid qayaxan
02:27
by adding the definite article "al."
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inagoo ku darayna xarfahah "al"
02:29
So this is al-shalan --
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markaa waa alshay'un
02:32
the unknown thing.
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shayga aan la garanayn.
02:33
And this is a word that appears throughout early mathematics,
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tani waa kelmadii ka muuqan jirtay xiliyadii hore ee xisaabta,
02:37
such as this 10th century derivation of proofs.
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sida dhirindhirintan qarnigii tobnaad ah
02:44
The problem for the Medieval Spanish scholars
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dhibaatada heshay aqoonyahankii Medieval Spanish
02:46
who were tasked with translating this material
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ee loo xilsaaray turjumida arintan
02:49
is that the letter SHeen and the word shalan
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waxay ahayd in kelmada shiin ama xarafka shay'un
02:53
can't be rendered into Spanish
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inaan laga dhigi karin Isbaanish
02:55
because Spanish doesn't have that SH,
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sababtoo ah Isbaanishku ma laha Sha',
02:58
that "sh" sound.
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codka "sha'
02:59
So by convention,
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markaa waxaa laysla qaatay,
03:01
they created a rule in which
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sameeyeen xeer ay
03:02
they borrowed the CK sound, "ck" sound,
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ka soo amaahdeen codka CK, codka "ka'
03:07
from the classical Greek
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taasoo ay ka soo qaateen Giriigii hore
03:08
in the form of the letter Kai.
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oo ah qaabka xaraka kaay.
03:11
Later when this material was translated
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ka dib markii tan loo bedelay
03:14
into a common European language,
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luuqadihi caadiga ahaa ee reer Yurub,
03:16
which is to say Latin,
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oo ah Laatiinka,
03:18
they simply replaced the Greek Kai
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waxay si dhibyar ugu bedeleen Kaay-dii Giriiga
03:20
with the Latin X.
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xarkii X
03:23
And once that happened,
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markii taasi dhacdayna,
03:24
once this material was in Latin,
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markii tani noqotay Laatiin
03:26
it formed the basis for mathematics textbooks
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waxay samaysay buugaagta aasaasiga ee xiisaabta
03:30
for almost 600 years.
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ilaa lix boqol oo sano,
03:32
But now we have the answer to our question.
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hadaba iminka aan ka jawaabno suaasheeni
03:34
Why is it that X is the unknown?
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maxay X u tahay mid aan la garanayn
03:37
X is the unknown
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X waa mid aan la garanayn
03:39
because you can't say "sh" in Spanish.
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sababtu waa inaysan ku odhan karayn "sha' luuqada Isbaanishka
03:42
(Laughter)
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(qosol)
03:45
And I thought that was worth sharing.
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waxaanan filayaa inay taasi tamay mid mudan inaan idinla wadaago
03:47
(Applause)
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(sacab)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Terry Moore - ThinkerTerry Moore is the director of the Radius Foundation, a forum for exploring and gaining insight from different worldviews.
Why you should listen
Terry Moore directs the Radius Foundation in New York, which, as its website says, "seeks new ways of exploring and understanding dissimilar conceptual systems or paradigms -- scientific, religious, philosophical, and aesthetic -- with the aim to find a world view of more complete insight and innovation. The Radius Foundation is a forum for different views."
The foundation has published several works that examine the intersection of religion and metaphysics with science and social action.
Terry Moore | Speaker | TED.com