此资料由网络收集而来，如有侵权请告知上传者立即删除。资料共分享，我们负责传递知识。TED英语演讲稿：为什么X代表未知？ihavetheanswertoaquestionthatwe'veallasked.thequestionis,whyisitthattheletterxrepresentstheunknown?nowiknowwelearnedthatinmathclass,butnowit'severywhereintheculture--thexprize,thex-files,projectx,tedx.where'dthatcomefrom?aboutsixyearsagoidecidedthatiwouldlearnarabic,whichturnsouttobeasupremelylogicallanguage.towriteawordoraphraseorasentenceinarabicislikecraftinganequation,becauseeverypartisextremelypreciseandcarriesalotofinformation.that'soneofthereasonssomuchofwhatwe'vecometothinkofaswesternscienceandmathematicsandengineeringwasreallyworkedoutinthefirstfewcenturiesofthecommonerabythepersiansandthearabsandtheturks.thisincludesthelittlesysteminarabiccalledal-jebra.andal-jebrroughlytranslatesto"thesystemforreconcilingdisparateparts."al-jebrfinallycameintoenglishasalgebra.oneexampleamongmany.thearabictextscontainingthismathematicalwisdomfinallymadetheirwaytoeurope--whichistosayspain--inthe11thand12thcenturies.andwhentheyarrivedtherewastremendousinterestintranslatingthiswisdomintoaeuropeanlanguage.buttherewereproblems.oneproblemistherearesomesoundsinarabicthatjustdon'tmakeitthroughaeuropeanvoiceboxwithoutlotsofpractice.trustmeonthatone.also,thoseverysoundstendnottoberepresentedbythecharactersthatareavailableineuropean此资料由网络收集而来，如有侵权请告知上传者立即删除。资料共分享，我们负责传递知识。languages.here'soneoftheculprits.thisisthelettersheen,anditmakesthesoundwethinkofassh--"sh."it'salsotheveryfirstletterofthewordshalan,whichmeans"something"justlikethetheenglishword"something"--someundefined,unknownthing.nowinarabic,wecanmakethisdefinitebyaddingthedefinitearticle"al."sothisisal-shalan--theunknownthing.andthisisawordthatappearsthroughoutearlymathematics,suchasthis10thcenturyderivationofproofs.theproblemforthemedievalspanishscholarswhoweretaskedwithtranslatingthismaterialisthatthelettersheenandthewordshalancan'tberenderedintospanishbecausespanishdoesn'thavethatsh,that"sh"sound.sobyconvention,theycreatedaruleinwhichtheyborrowedthecksound,"ck"sound,fromtheclassicalgreekintheformoftheletterkai.laterwhenthismaterialwastranslatedintoacommoneuropeanlanguage,whichistosaylatin,theysimplyreplacedthegreekkaiwiththelatinx.andoncethathappened,oncethismaterialwasinlatin,itformedthebasisformathematicstextbooksforalmost600years.butnowwehavetheanswertoourquestion.whyisitthatxistheunknown?xistheunknownbecauseyoucan'tsay"sh"inspanish.(laughter)andithoughtthatwasworthsharing.(applause)
