Terry Moore: Why is 'x' the unknown?

By: TEDtalksDirector | Minutes: 03:58 | Views: 258,883
Uploaded: June 6th, 2012 (11 months, 3 weeks ago)

   www.ted.com  Why is 'x' the  symbol for an unknown? In this short and funny talk, Terry Moore gives the  surprising answer.

TEDTalks is a daily  video podcast of the best talks and  performances from the TED Conference,  where the world's leading thinkers and  doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe  Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on  observing her own stroke, Nicholas  Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on  malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on  the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and  "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure  of mystery. TED stands for Technology,  Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks  cover these topics as well as science,  business, development and the arts.  Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now  available on TED.com, at    www.ted.com/translate 
If you  have questions or comments about this or other TED videos, please go to    support.ted.com

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View 24 Comments (UnModerated)

OMAR ALI: جيش سراب *^▁^*

Om Er: Yeah §_^

alaa khawajah: we are arab we r awsome ^_^

زكريا الخروصي: يعيش سراب الدافور xD

kady ali: جيش سراب

DonCorleoneQ8: Take this too, derivations ( the main part of calculus ) was invented in Iraq hundred of years before newton.

TacoJim05: Algebra's first modern ideas showed up in Baghdad in 820 AD, Descartes is from around the 1500's. Terry Moore explains how the translation happened.

Mohammed Alwassm: Mmmm i got it

Bao trinh minh: Because you can't say S_H in spanis - That it's, LOL

alrazy12: and you mother fuckers saying arabs are terrorists well you are xxx fucking idiots shy2on

VICTHEREALEST: i thought it was Descartes who introduced the use of x as an unknown???...

Jeff Wilson: You are a retard to expect a former colonized, war ridden area to produce nobel prize winning talent. Also the user "TesticlFury" said people like Ibn Khaldun who in his book wrote about "man coming from the world of apes" or Al Jahiz in his book "kitab al haywan" talked about "environment causing evolution in specie". You are just another white hick with too much hatred.

jalalgjl: Loog ago question just aswered tanks

Shaun W: I think you might have testicle fury.

Triggerboy78: "About 6 years ago, I decided that I would learn aerobic..." i thought: WHAT??? ( 0:37 )

Peristerygr: Counterjihturds should stop use "x"! Besides is there something they DON'T know (*sarcasm*)?

Austin Abel: Words,words,words - Hamlet

Luca Bittarello: In fact, the [sh] sound did exist in Spanish at that time. It did not disappear till late in the 16th century. Note that it has survived in Ladino, a more conservative offshoot of medieval Spanish. It also endures in other Iberian languages, such as Catalan and Portuguese. As it happens, many of these languages (including Spanish at the time!) use the letter "x" for that sound (in Portuguese, for instance, "x" is called "xis" [shees]), a very Iberian tradition.

jackie cox: you don't understand things you don't know The cross tilted Your comment is meaningless, time changes all things trust me

unbiasedrationalist: Dear sir, as i know a good part of ancient mathematics knowledge was transferred from indian subcontinent to arabs to europe As the europeons heard it from arabs first, they believe all of that came from arabs,,, e.g. they name 0-9 as as arabic numbers,,though this system originated in india. Well i dont know much beyond this...but you too seem to have some misconceptions about ancient mathematics.

abenmunoz: Yes, I'm taking that into account, but yeísmo in Spain is not quite the same as in Latin America. In Argentina, for instance, I grant you, you can find the "sh" sound. But that's not "castilian". Remember he said that "spanish scholars" were translating it. The point is that the "sh" sound, if found in spanish, is a travesty of the classical form. That's what he meant, anyway. Even if I don't necessarily agree with his explanation.

Federico Olivieri: I dont know if you're spanish speaking. I guess you are based on your surname. In a lot of accents (mostly across latinamerica, but also in a lot of spain) we DO have that sound. Google "Yeismo"

abenmunoz: The Spanish language can represent the "sh" sound in writing if they need to, but it's not a natural sound, i.e. it doesn't exist in any spanish word. Rather like the english "th" sound.

Amira Boussaada: so proud of my culture and ancestors !

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