TED2012
Terry Moore: Why is 'x' the unknown?
泰瑞.摩爾: 為什麼"X"代表未知?
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為什麼"X"是未知的象徵?泰瑞.摩爾在他簡短有趣的演講中告訴你來龍去脈 .
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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對於一個我們都會問的問題 我有個答案
00:20
The question is,
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這個問題是
00:21
Why is it that the letter X
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為什麼X這個字母
00:23
represents the unknown?
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表示未知數?
00:25
Now I know we learned that in math class,
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我們都在數學課中學過
00:28
but now it's everywhere in the culture --
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但它也延伸到日常文化的各個角落
00:30
The X prize, the X-Files,
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X Prize 全球創新獎、X檔案
00:33
Project X, TEDx.
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X計畫、TEDx
00:36
Where'd that come from?
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X到底從何而來?
00:38
About six years ago
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大約在六年前
00:40
I decided that I would learn Arabic,
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我決定學阿拉伯文
00:42
which turns out to be a supremely logical language.
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一種具高度邏輯性的語言
00:46
To write a word or a phrase
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利用阿拉伯文書寫一個字或一個單詞
00:49
or a sentence in Arabic
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或一個句子
00:50
is like crafting an equation,
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就像在刻劃一個方程式
00:53
because every part is extremely precise
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因為每個部分都極度準確
00:55
and carries a lot of information.
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而且蘊含大量資訊
00:58
That's one of the reasons
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這是其中一個原因
00:59
so much of what we've come to think of
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為什麼我們現在稱之為
01:01
as Western science and mathematics and engineering
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西方科學、數學和工程學
01:04
was really worked out in the first few centuries of the Common Era
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皆是在西元前幾個世紀
01:08
by the Persians and the Arabs and the Turks.
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由波斯人、阿拉伯人和土耳其人所發展出來的
01:11
This includes the little system in Arabic
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其中包括阿拉伯文稱作
01:13
called al-jebra.
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"al-jebra"的小系統
01:15
And al-jebr roughly translates to
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"al-jebra" 大概的意思是
01:18
"the system for reconciling disparate parts."
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一套調和不同部分的系統
01:22
Al-jebr finally came into English as algebra.
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"Al-jebr"發展成英文的代數
01:26
One example among many.
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這是眾多例子中的其中一個
01:28
The Arabic texts containing this mathematical wisdom
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包含了數學智慧的阿拉伯文字
01:32
finally made their way to Europe --
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後來傳播到歐洲
01:34
which is to say Spain --
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準確說是西班牙
01:35
in the 11th and 12th centuries.
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在11至12世紀時
01:38
And when they arrived
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對它們的到來
01:39
there was tremendous interest
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人們有著濃厚的興趣
01:41
in translating this wisdom
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要把這種智慧
01:42
into a European language.
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翻譯成歐洲的語言
01:44
But there were problems.
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但產生了一些問題
01:46
One problem
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其中有一個是
01:48
is there are some sounds in Arabic
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有些阿拉伯語的發音
01:51
that just don't make it through a European voice box
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歐洲人是發不出來的
01:54
without lots of practice.
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不經過大量練習的話
01:56
Trust me on that one.
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這點你們要相信我
01:58
Also, those very sounds
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此外 這些特別的發音
02:00
tend not to be represented
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在歐洲語言中
02:02
by the characters that are available in European languages.
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也找不到字母來代表它們
02:05
Here's one of the culprits.
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這裡有一個例子
02:07
This is the letter SHeen,
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這個字念作 "SHeen"
02:09
and it makes the sound we think of as SH -- "sh."
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和英文中的"sh"發一樣的音
02:13
It's also the very first letter
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也是"Shalan"這個字
02:15
of the word shalan,
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的開頭
02:18
which means "something"
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代表 "某些東西"
02:19
just like the the English word "something" --
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而就像英文中"某些東西"的字義
02:21
some undefined, unknown thing.
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某些未定義、未知的事物
02:24
Now in Arabic,
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在阿拉伯語中
02:26
we can make this definite
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我們可以在這個字前面
02:27
by adding the definite article "al."
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加上"al"這個定冠詞
02:29
So this is al-shalan --
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就變成了"al-shalan"
02:32
the unknown thing.
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"未知的事物"
02:33
And this is a word that appears throughout early mathematics,
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而這個單字在早期的數學中出現
02:37
such as this 10th century derivation of proofs.
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例如這道十世紀的推導證明題
02:44
The problem for the Medieval Spanish scholars
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對於中世紀那些
02:46
who were tasked with translating this material
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負責翻譯這些教材的西班牙學者而言
02:49
is that the letter SHeen and the word shalan
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問題是字母"SHeen"和單字"shalan"
02:53
can't be rendered into Spanish
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無法用西班牙語表達
02:55
because Spanish doesn't have that SH,
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因為西班牙語裡
02:58
that "sh" sound.
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沒有"SH"的發音
02:59
So by convention,
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所以依照常規
03:01
they created a rule in which
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他們創了一個規則
03:02
they borrowed the CK sound, "ck" sound,
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從古希臘語中
03:07
from the classical Greek
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借了"ck"這個音
03:08
in the form of the letter Kai.
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用"X" (Kai) 這個字母表達出來
03:11
Later when this material was translated
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而後當這些教材被翻譯成
03:14
into a common European language,
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通用的歐洲語言
03:16
which is to say Latin,
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也就是拉丁文
03:18
they simply replaced the Greek Kai
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他們把希臘語中的"X" (Kai)
03:20
with the Latin X.
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替換成拉丁文中的"X"
03:23
And once that happened,
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而當這件事發生
03:24
once this material was in Latin,
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當教材已被翻譯成拉丁文
03:26
it formed the basis for mathematics textbooks
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就成了其後600年的
03:30
for almost 600 years.
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數學課本的基礎
03:32
But now we have the answer to our question.
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現在來到了問題的答案
03:34
Why is it that X is the unknown?
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為什麼X代表未知?
03:37
X is the unknown
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這是因為
03:39
because you can't say "sh" in Spanish.
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你沒辦法在西班牙語中發"sh"的音
03:42
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
03:45
And I thought that was worth sharing.
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而我覺得這值得分享給大家
03:47
(Applause)
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(全場鼓掌)
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