Spoken english math terms - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Ranayna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 09:44:50 am
content: Hi,recently, I started getting back into electronics, this time with considerably more effort as my dabblings in younger years.One thing that is somewhat of a stumbling block for me is math. When reading a textbook, I like to read out loud any formulas I do not have internalized yet. Or at least I subvocalize them. When reading an english book (which virtually all of them are at the moment), I do not like to switch languages for that.Being a non-native English speaker, I find myself lacking a couple of terms that I am used from german, that allow for more "fluent" formula reading.For example X^Y. In german, this is simply "X hoch Y". In english, I know only of the somewhat cumbersome term "X to the power of Y". Using the literal translation "X high Y" sounds awkward. I would prefer to learn about expressions that are actually used.Is there a resource somewhere, where I can look up proper spoken english math terms, like they are used in school?

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 09:55:31 am
content: Unfortunately I don't know a specific resource that would be helpful here, I don't remember any of my schoolbooks saying how to say them. In UK English at least we shorten "x to the power of y" to "x to the y" when reading aloud, unless y is a known small integer where there are specific terms, x^2 would be said "x squared", and x^3 "x cubed".

author: kosine
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 10:34:20 am
content: Cajori, Florian - A History of Mathematical Notations  (two volumes, 870 pages):https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_History_of_Mathematical_Notations_Two.html?id=gxrO8ZnMK_YC&redir_esc=yPretty much the definitive guide to the subject. You'll probably find a PDF somewhere on the internet.

author: HoracioDos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 11:27:54 am
content: Quote from: kosine on August 17, 2018, 10:34:20 amhttps://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.200372https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.88254

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2018, 11:54:09 am
content: "X power Y" is what I'd say.

author: Mattjd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 01:34:13 pm
content: I understand what you are saying, I believe saying the equations,operators,functions in english can help understand whats going on.For example take the DiffEqy'(t)+y(t)=0The answer is trivial, y(t) = e^-tYou could work through it with calculus or you could do as I like and say out loud what the equation is asking in english"What function y(t) has a derivative that is its negative? (because y'(t) = -y(t))"Or take a logarithmlog216 = xcould be read as"2 raised to what power x equals 16"These things have their limitations (by the complexity of the equation/fuction/operator) but I find very useful for learning conceptsWith that being said, I don't know where something like this exists.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 01:45:10 pm
content: Quote from: Ranayna on August 17, 2018, 09:44:50 amAs noted above, "X to the Y" is what we say. For example,exis "e to the x".Other things you may want to know:√xis "square root of x", or "root x" for short. For examplea√xwould be read as "a root x".a/bis "a over b" or "a upon b"x² is "x squared"x³ is "x cubed"x'is "x prime"x''is "x double-prime" (but that may be a British thing, not sure what USAians would say)Also some Greek letters have different English pronunciations.πis "pee" in most languages, but "pie" in English.

author: kosine
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 01:54:03 pm
content: You could also try watching some YouTube math videos to hear how the presenters pronounce things.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2018, 02:31:36 pm
content: Or spend a little time over at Khan Academy for both the math tutorials and the Electrical Engineering program.Actually, I kind of like "x hoch y" - it pretty much describes exactly what is happening. "x to the y" is how it i usually said in American English.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2018, 01:19:44 am
content: Other American English usageThe derivative of the variable x, denoted with a dot over the x would be read x dot, and similarly the second derivative would be x double dot.This forum might be the best resource. Just post other questions as they arise.