ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Terry Moore - Thinker
Terry 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.

More profile about the speaker
Terry Moore | Speaker | TED.com
TED2012

Terry Moore: Why is 'x' the unknown?

Terry Moore: 为什么 'x' 代表未知数?

Filmed:
3,872,013 views

为什么 'x' 是未知数的符号?在这个短而有趣的演讲里,Terry Moore 带给我们一个吃惊的答案。
- Thinker
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回答 to a question that we've我们已经 all asked.
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我来回答一个大家都问过的问题。
00:20
The question is,
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这个问题是,
00:21
Why is it that the letter X
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为什么字母“X”
00:23
represents代表 the unknown未知?
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代表着未知数?
00:25
Now I know we learned学到了 that in math数学 class,
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我知道这在数学课学过,
00:28
but now it's everywhere到处 in the culture文化 --
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现在它在日常文化里也随处可见
00:30
The X prize, the X-FilesX档案,
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X奖,X档案,
00:33
Project项目 X, TEDx的TEDx.
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Projet X,TEDx。
00:36
Where'd哪儿 that come from?
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这些都是从哪里来的?
00:38
About six years年份 ago
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大约六年前,
00:40
I decided决定 that I would learn学习 Arabic阿拉伯,
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我决定学习阿拉伯语,
00:42
which哪一个 turns out to be a supremely千钧 logical合乎逻辑 language语言.
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这是一个非常有逻辑性的语言。
00:46
To write a word or a phrase短语
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每用阿拉伯语写一个词
00:49
or a sentence句子 in Arabic阿拉伯
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或一个句子,
00:50
is like crafting各具特色 an equation方程,
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就如编解一道方程,
00:53
because every一切 part部分 is extremely非常 precise精确
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因为它的每一部分都非常精确
00:55
and carries携带 a lot of information信息.
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还伴随着很多信息。
00:58
That's one of the reasons原因
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这是为什么
00:59
so much of what we've我们已经 come to think of
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大多数的我们认为
01:01
as Western西 science科学 and mathematics数学 and engineering工程
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西方的科学、数学和技术
01:04
was really worked工作 out in the first few少数 centuries百年 of the Common共同 Era时代
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都是在公元最初的世纪
01:08
by the Persians波斯人 and the Arabs阿拉伯人 and the Turks土耳其人.
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被波斯人、阿拉伯人和土耳其人所发明的原因之一。
01:11
This includes包括 the little system系统 in Arabic阿拉伯
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这其中包括一个在阿拉伯语中称为
01:13
called al-jebraAL-jebra.
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“al-jabr”的系统。
01:15
And al-jebrAL-jebr roughly大致 translates转换 to
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而“al-jabr”大致的意思是
01:18
"the system系统 for reconciling调和 disparate不同 parts部分."
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“一套将无关‘代’化成相关的体系”。
01:22
Al-jebr铝jebr finally最后 came来了 into English英语 as algebra代数.
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后来“Al-jabr”变成了英文中的代数。
01:26
One example among其中 many许多.
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这是众多(关于阿拉伯语的)例子之一。
01:28
The Arabic阿拉伯 texts文本 containing this mathematical数学的 wisdom智慧
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最终,带有数学智慧的阿拉伯文学
01:32
finally最后 made制作 their way to Europe欧洲 --
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传播到了欧洲,
01:34
which哪一个 is to say Spain西班牙 --
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确切的来说,也就是说西班牙--
01:35
in the 11th and 12th centuries百年.
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在11和12世纪。
01:38
And when they arrived到达
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而它们的到来
01:39
there was tremendous巨大 interest利益
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在当时社会,人们有着浓厚的兴趣
01:41
in translating翻译 this wisdom智慧
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想要把这个智慧
01:42
into a European欧洲的 language语言.
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翻译成为欧洲的语言。
01:44
But there were problems问题.
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但是问题也随着出现了。
01:46
One problem问题
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其中一个问题说的是
01:48
is there are some sounds声音 in Arabic阿拉伯
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阿拉伯语中存在一些发音
01:51
that just don't make it through通过 a European欧洲的 voice语音 box
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是欧洲人无论如何也无法发出的
01:54
without lots of practice实践.
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如果没有经过大量的练习。
01:56
Trust相信 me on that one.
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这点您可相信我
01:58
Also, those very sounds声音
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此外,这些发音
02:00
tend趋向 not to be represented代表
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往往不能被
02:02
by the characters人物 that are available可得到 in European欧洲的 languages语言.
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欧洲语言中已有的字母来表示。
02:05
Here's这里的 one of the culprits罪魁祸首.
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有这么一个例子,
02:07
This is the letter SHeen光泽,
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这是字母“SHeen”,
02:09
and it makes品牌 the sound声音 we think of as SHSH -- "shSH."
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它对应我们英文中SH的发音-“sh”。
02:13
It's also the very first letter
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它也是
02:15
of the word shalan沙兰,
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“shalan”这个词的首字母,
02:18
which哪一个 means手段 "something"
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意思是 “某物”。
02:19
just like the the English英语 word "something" --
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就跟英语中的“某物 (something)”一个意思,
02:21
some undefined未定义, unknown未知 thing.
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代表某些未定义或未知的东西。
02:24
Now in Arabic阿拉伯,
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而在阿拉伯语中,
02:26
we can make this definite
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它可以变得有意义
02:27
by adding加入 the definite article文章 "al."
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当我们写上定冠词 “al”之后
02:29
So this is al-shalanAL-莎兰 --
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这是 al-shalan,
02:32
the unknown未知 thing.
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代表着“未知的东西”。
02:33
And this is a word that appears出现 throughout始终 early mathematics数学,
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而这个单词的行踪贯穿于早期数学,
02:37
such这样 as this 10th century世纪 derivation求导 of proofs样张.
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比如在这个10世纪的证明题里。
02:44
The problem问题 for the Medieval中世纪 Spanish西班牙语 scholars学者
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当时负责翻译这些材料的
02:46
who were tasked任务 with translating翻译 this material材料
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中世纪西班牙学者遇到了难题
02:49
is that the letter SHeen光泽 and the word shalan沙兰
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这个“SHee”字母和“shalan” 一词
02:53
can't be rendered呈现 into Spanish西班牙语
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无法用西班牙语表达
02:55
because Spanish西班牙语 doesn't have that SHSH,
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因为西班牙语中没有“SH”的
02:58
that "shSH" sound声音.
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“sh”发音。
02:59
So by convention惯例,
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所以依照惯例,
03:01
they created创建 a rule规则 in which哪一个
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他们创建了一个规则,
03:02
they borrowed the CKCK sound声音, "ckCK" sound声音,
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他们借用“CK”的发音-“ck”,
03:07
from the classical古典 Greek希腊语
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这来自于古希腊语中的
03:08
in the form形成 of the letter Kai.
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字母“X (Kai)”。
03:11
Later后来 when this material材料 was translated翻译
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后来,当这篇文章被翻译成为
03:14
into a common共同 European欧洲的 language语言,
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一个欧洲的通用语言,
03:16
which哪一个 is to say Latin拉丁,
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也就是拉丁语,
03:18
they simply只是 replaced更换 the Greek希腊语 Kai
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他们简单的把希腊语中的“X (Kai)”
03:20
with the Latin拉丁 X.
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用拉丁语中的“X”代替。
03:23
And once一旦 that happened发生,
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一旦这实现了,
03:24
once一旦 this material材料 was in Latin拉丁,
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一旦翻译成了拉丁语,
03:26
it formed形成 the basis基础 for mathematics数学 textbooks教科书
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它就为数学教科书打下了基础
03:30
for almost几乎 600 years年份.
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从此至今已将近600年。
03:32
But now we have the answer回答 to our question.
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我们现在有了一开始问题的答案。
03:34
Why is it that X is the unknown未知?
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为什么是“X”代表着未知数?
03:37
X is the unknown未知
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“X”是未知数
03:39
because you can't say "shSH" in Spanish西班牙语.
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因为你无法在西班牙语中发"sh"这个音。
03:42
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
03:45
And I thought that was worth价值 sharing分享.
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我认为这值得共享。
03:47
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Sicheng Pan
Reviewed by Si Xie

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Terry Moore - Thinker
Terry 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.

More profile about the speaker
Terry Moore | Speaker | TED.com