Watch this: Origins of the unknown thing, the letter “X”

Mathematics scholars have always used the letter  ‘x’ to denote an independent variable. In x-rays it was used to describe the unidentified radiation in x-rays, and for the entertainment fans out there its used in the  TV show The X Files. We ask ourselves how the letter become the symbol that commonly represents the unknown? Terry Moore’s TED talk takes us back to the origin of “the unknown thing,” explaining how its translation from Arabic to Latin was facilitated by Spanish phonetics and the Greek alphabet. Enjoy

- Advertisement -

VIDEO REMOVED

- Advertisement -

IN THIS STORY STREAM

Roger Bambino
Roger Bambino
The love for gadgets and technology is deeply rooted in his DNA, he is a blogger and really obsessed with cool devices. Roger is the EIC at Techjaja and also he loves creepy movies, and takes you very, very seriously. May be!!
/** * RECOMMENDED CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT AND UNCOMMENT * THE SECTION BELOW TO INSERT DYNAMIC VALUES FROM YOUR * PLATFORM OR CMS. * * LEARN WHY DEFINING THESE VARIABLES IS IMPORTANT: * https://disqus.com/admin/universalcode/#configuration-variables */ /* var disqus_config = function () { // Replace PAGE_URL with your page's canonical URL variable this.page.url = PAGE_URL; // Replace PAGE_IDENTIFIER with your page's unique identifier variable this.page.identifier = PAGE_IDENTIFIER; }; */ (function() { // REQUIRED CONFIGURATION VARIABLE: EDIT THE SHORTNAME BELOW var d = document, s = d.createElement('script'); // IMPORTANT: Replace EXAMPLE with your forum shortname! s.src = 'https://thetechjaja.disqus.com/embed.js'; s.setAttribute('data-timestamp', +new Date()); (d.head || d.body).appendChild(s); })();Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

Fresh Tech

- Advertisment -