Questions tagged [terminology]
For questions about terms, definitions and related concepts used in science and mathematics.
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Who are credited for angle transformation formulae and law of sines in trignometry
I'd like to who are credited for discovering angle transformation formulae
$$
\sin(A\pm B)=\sin(A)\cos( B)\pm\cos(A)\sin(B)
$$
$$
\cos(A\pm B)=\cos(A)\cos( B)\mp\sin(A)\sin(B)
$$
$$
\tan(A\pm B)=\...
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Old geometry terminology
I was reading Ramsey's 1927 paper "A Contribution to the Theory of Taxation" and came across the following paragraph:
"We have $\lambda_1 = \mu_1,\ldots,\lambda_m = \mu_m$, $m$ hyperplanes ($n-1$ ...
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Who coined the term ''Born's rule''?
Who assigned the term ''Born's rule'' to the statement that the measurement of a quantum observable is one of its eigenvalues, with a probability given by the square of the coefficient in the spectral ...
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How did early physicists experimentally assign electronic transitions in atoms?
The spectrum of hydrogen was very well studied by the mid-19th century. However, if one were doing experimental spectroscopy for more complex atoms, one would see plenty of spectral lines in the ...
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Origin of "bootstrapping" in mathematical logic
"Bootstrapping" is a term which in general refers to a self-starting process. It is very heavily used in the field of computer science, but it also has uses elsewhere.
For example, in ...
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When did the research field of Astrophysics begin?
I have this vague idea that Astrophysics morphed out of Astronomy as a field of study and research. I am curious if this is true and when did Astrophysics become separate from Astronomy as a field of ...
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How did the early chemists make a connection between gram formula weight with 1 mole and Avogadro's number?
According to one historian Mustafa Sarikaya's article in Foundations of Chemistry DOI 10.1007/s10698-011-9128-7, the mole concept was introduced to chemistry earlier than Avogadro’s number. The mole ...
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Is it a historical coincidence that relative atomic weights by chemical methods and mass spectrometry are very close?
The concept of relative atomic weight originated from measuring the combining weight of hydrogen with a certain element. In the simplification process H was taken as unity (18th, 19th and 20th century)...
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Who associated the sharp, principal, diffuse, fundamental spectral terms with electron's momentum?
It is well documented that the notation for the electronic configuration (s,p,d,f) of atoms as used today originates from the words sharp, principal, diffuse, fundamental from alkali metal spectra (...
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Where is the first reference to the "Z combinator", a call-by-value fix-point combinator?
I'd like to know the earliest reference to the Z-combinator. This could be either where the name was first coined, or even the first discussion of a need for an applicative-order Y combinator. I didn'...
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When was the term "corollary" first used in proofs?
A dictionary search of the word "corollary" immediately yields the usual definition that all people involved with mathematics are used to dealing with.
However, this surely comes from the Latin "...
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Was the value of the mole invented or discovered in chemistry?
For example, $\pi$ is not an invention, it is a discovery which was natural, that is ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. But when we define a meter it is not a natural value it is ...
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Why is the H theorem called the big Eta theorem?
In France, they refer to the H-theorem of Boltzmann (Théorème H) as 'eta'-theorem (théorème 'eta'). The connection obviously comes from the uppercase version of the Greek letter $\eta$, which looks ...
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Why are permutations ($_nP_r$) called differently in non-English languages ("variations" in German)?
First of all, you should be at least a little familiar with combinatorics to understand that question.
Some often used calculator keys in stochastic are the nCr and nPr ones.
Edit: I've first asked ...
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Who came up with a number of the theoretical plates equation?
In chromatography, the signal is shaped like a Gaussian peak, and it is plotted against time vs. instrument's signal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatography#/media/File:Rt_5_12.png
(a) One of ...
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Why do mathematicians call ~ 'twiddle'?
Every one of my lecturers have always called it this, as do I, despite the fact that I know its properly called 'tilde'. Does anyone have any clue where this convention comes from and why it might ...
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source of "logistic growth"?
I've been trying to find the source of the name of the DE modelling population growth known as logistic growth, for some time: why "Logistic" ? So far all my attempts to research it have hit dead ends ...
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Who used the symbol $S_n$ for "rotation reflection" as a symmetry operation?
I am looking for the origin of the symbol $S_n$ used by chemists to denote the symmetry operation consisting of a $\smash{\frac{2\pi}n}$ rotation ($C_n$) about an axis and a reflection in a plane ...
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What motivated the choice of the word "model" in model theory?
Who chose the term "model" in model theory?
What was their reason for choosing the word "model" to mean what it means now in model theory?
The current meaning: "[interpretation] I is a model of [...
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Why did Euclid define "a unit" instead of "the unit"?
I know Euclid's Definition VII.1 of a unit only from English and German translations:
A unit is (that) according to which each existing (thing) is said (to
be) one. [translation by Fitzpatrick]
...
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Degenerate States in Quantum Mechanics
In his book on quantum mechanics in the chapter on perturbation theory Dirac says in a footnote:
A system with only one stationary state belonging to each energy-level is often called non-...
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History of group theory character tables (as used in physics and chemistry)
Does anyone know who started using the symbols A, B, E, T (First column, left) for showing irreducible representations of symmetry groups? In older maths books I see capital gamma. Herein A= totally ...
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Origins of molecular orbital diagrams?
Does anyone remember who proposed molecular diagrams for simple molecules as taught today in most general chemistry texts? I cannot access Hund's original article, however, Mulliken's early articles ...
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What is the origin of "normal" in normal coordinates and normal modes?
I am trying to understand why vibrational modes of polyatomic molecules are called "normal" mode of vibrations and with corresponding normal coordinates. What is the origin of the term normal here? I ...
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Who came up with the link between the spectrum of an operator and the poles of a meromorphic function?
From Dieudonné's "History of Functional Analysis" I learned that Picard in 1893 gave a characterization of an eigenvalue of the Laplacian as the simple pole of a meromorphic function.
Is there an ...
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"Species" and "terms" meaning polynomials and monomials
I found in some old Latin texts and their translations that polynomials were once called "species" (if I understand correctly that they meant the same thing, but it looks like it). And their ...
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What does Rousseau mean by "Baroco des Logiciens"?
In the Wikipedia "Baroque" article I found this quote from "Dictionnaire
de Musique" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
BAROQUE. Une Musique Baroque est celle dont l’Harmonie est confuse, ...
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Who coined the term "immune system"?
Who coined the term "immune system"?
The OED lists the following as its earliest example of the term "immune system":
1943 Science 30 Apr. 406/1Complement..is removed by the addition of an ...
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Where does the prefix "super" from "supersymmetry" come from?
Where does the prefix "super" from "supersymmetry" come from?
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What is the etymology of the term "mode" in statistics?
I saw that the word "mode" means "popular" in French, and I was wondering if this might be the etymology of the "mode" of a population in stat?
I was wondering if anyone had sources for early use of ...
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When and why did people stopped using "natural philosophy" term and started using "science"?
Previously what is called now "natural sciences" was called "natural philosophy". I'm interested in details, what was so wrong with the name "philosophy" so the name "science" became preferred?
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Who first considered the $f$ in $f(x)$ as an object in itself, and who decided to call it a function?
The question is in the title, but allow me to provide some background.
I’m aware that Leibniz introduced the word “function” into mathematics (around 1673) and that Johann Bernoulli or Euler ...
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What is the origin of "law of excluded middle"?
Reading an article I have stumbled across the concept of law of excluded middle.
Wikipedia mentions that original expression is principium tertii exclusi which ...
Alexei
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What does the "G" for the similitude groups stand for?
When we have a bilinear symmetric/ bilinear anti-symmetric/hermitian form $b$ on a real/complex vector space $V$, one can consider the group of invertible matrices $A \in GL(V)$ which respect $b$, ...
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Why is one of Maxwell's equations named after Ampère? Who first named it after Ampère?
Ampère never wrote down what is confusingly called "Ampère's circuital law," not even the form without the displacement current term, as Ampère never dealt with the field concept.* Maxwell derived
$$\...
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Why statistical moments are called moments?
According to the Jeff Miller's Earliest Known Uses of the Words of Mathematics "Moment was taken into Statistics from Mechanics by Karl Pearson when he treated the frequency-curve (or observation ...
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How influential was the Kerala school to European development in Calculus?
Did it influence the work of Newton or Leibniz, i have often heard that Europeans "stole" calculus from the Kerala school, these are views often parroted by Indian nationalists, but how accurate is it?...
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Etymology of Some Terms Used in Ratio and Proportion in Old Algebra Textbooks
In older algebra textbooks for high school (mainly 19th century) four properties of ratio and proportions were used. The properties were Invertendo, Alternendo, Componendo, and Dividendo. This ...
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Origin of "Spline" word
I was studying interpolation by Splines in numerical analysis and started to wonder the word's origin. I've found that it was a system used in technical drawings using weights but couldn't find why ...
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Where does the habit of calling the elements of a projective Hilbert space "rays" originate from?
When describing the projective Hilbert space as the state space in quantum mechanics, physicists habitually refer to its elements as "rays in Hilbert space", while the mathematical literature seems to ...
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Where does the letter S in "$S$-units" and in localization $S^{-1} R$ come from?
In number theory, we may encounter the notion of $S$-unit, $S$-integer, etc. where $S$ is a finite set of prime numbers (for simplicity). For instance, if $S = \{2,3\}$ then the $S$-integers are the ...
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First appearance of the term sinus cardinalis
Who introduced the term sinus cardinalis? I do not mean the abbreviation sinc, which was introduced 1952 by Woodward.
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Who coined the term "uniform" as in "uniform distribution"?
During the late 16th century and early 17th century, published work about probability theory (e.g. Liber de ludo aleae by J. Cardan published in 1663 but writen around 1564) studied dice games using ...
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Indiana Pi Bill: Other attempts to establish mathematical truth by legislative fiat?
Wiki:
The Indiana Pi Bill is the popular name for bill #246 of the 1897 sitting of the Indiana General Assembly, one of the most notorious attempts to establish mathematical truth by legislative ...
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Why are microcanonical, canonical and macrocanonical ensembles called that way?
In statistical mechanics, why microcanonical, canonical and macrocanonical ensemble are called that way?
Is there any reason according to the size of the system they can describe properly ( I don't ...
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Who invented the term "Kuhn loss"?
This term has been discussed on this forum, e.g. under Examples of Kuhn loss?, and has been attributed to Kuhn himself. The term refers to the loss of explanations and predictions of the prior ...
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Earliest known usage of letter gamma "Γ" for reducible representation in group theory
Does any know the earliest known usage of the Greek letter gamma for showing a reducible representation of a group? This symbolism is commonly used in character tables in chemical applications of ...
Danu♦
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Who was the first to use the "does not exist" sign ∄?
Who was the first to use the "does not exist" sign ∄? I'm aware that Giuseppe Peano originated serifed ∃ and, moreover that Whitehead and Russell repurposed Peano's serifed ∃; I'm also aware that ...
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References about the the development of the concept of mechanical work
I'm looking for references about how the concept of mechanical work ("$\boldsymbol{F}\cdot\mathrm{d}\boldsymbol{r}$") or the concept of mechanical power ("$\boldsymbol{F}\cdot\boldsymbol{v}$") came ...
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When were the abbreviations of chemical elements standardized?
This is going to be tricky because the discovery/synthesis of elements has taken place over centuries. It might be best to restrict this purely to the elements contained on Dmitri Mendeleyev's table, ...
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