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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2025
- 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/tra...
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Really interesting because in the Maltese language (which has Arabic routes) the letter 'X' is pronounced as 'Shh'!
Thats really cool! Btw are you still alive?
@@PerfectMo 😆
@@PerfectMoyou are still alive?
In portuguese too
Arabic is indeed a very logical, very consistent language. It also has so many sounds - consonants - totally strage to european languages.
And their is 12 Million words in Arabic
As an Arabian I apologize for all the students that failed in their math exams because of X
We won't forgive you. Ever 😠
😆
@@hustlewithhimanshu8899 same. I can't forgive my ancestors
@@josephostar3517 😆😆😆
Jokes apart my friend.
I think they made maths easier.
It would have been even harder otherwise.
when al shayun was replace by the greek letter χ, what the word become? al khayun??? please helppp
Hehhhhh
One of the most short and enjoyable on TED so far.
انا شحص من الصومال من مواليد المكة الربية السعودية وبفضلها تربيت في مجتمع يتحدث باللغة العربية وهذا الامر افضل ما حصل حياتي
what is this
Here's the translation kinda: "I'm a Somali person, but was born in Saudi arabia (mekka specifically)" then he talks about how much he loves the language, and how magical it is, that's basically it :)
@@ibr7515 thanks
سبحان الله خالق اللغات والبشر وجاعل اللغة العربية لغة القرآن الكريم المعجز ... وقد تحدى البشر أن يأتوا بسورةٍ من مثله او حتى اية ...ولقد احسنت الوصف ... فأن من البيانِ لسحراً ..وهي بالفعل لغةْ مختاره لتكون خارقةً للطبيعة مخلوقةً من الله وحبها خالدٌ خلود الدنيا والمرجح ان تكون لغة اهل الجنة...اللهم اجعلنا منهم .... تحياتي
Very inspiring information. While I was studying at high school, fistly my friend recommended this speech. When I watched, I liked very much.
It's amazing how a solution to a language problem can end up having a huge influence on math
I wished the spinach could say that Arabic word (sh) because of that happend we wouldn't be suffering because of them😂💔
But the good thing about this is that it helped us to make mathematics highly symbolic and therefore more simple to write complex things.
good remarque.
Human history is amazing , I don't think anything is a coincidence though , but definitely not always accurately calculated by intelligent minds.
The only explanation for me is presence of a greater planner.
He didn't mention why Y is also used to be the symbol for unknown. The reason is because the word Shy = شيء contains the letter Y at the end so it was common to use X ans Y as symbols for unknown.
AFTER X, YOU CAN USE ANY ALPHABETS AS UNKNOWN. IF YOU HAVE 2 KIND OF UNKNOWN, YOU CAN'T USE X AND X, THEN THEY USED X AND Y, OR X AND Z ETC.
I love it when the western world acknowledges arabs and their accomplishments :') makes me proud to be an arab .
I know nowadays we aren't as productive as before , but i really do hope the arab kindgom becomes what it once was ...
“What it once was” is unknown to most people especially the Europeans. Many believe the lie that we are people from the desert that had to contribution of any kind in any field. So not true!
Wow, I am Egyptian and I've learned all my life in English, but never knew the origin of the "x" symbol but now ! =)
I didn't know that.
This story is so interesting!!!
Funny thing. I met once this spanish guy on the train that couldn't say Shadwell and was saying Chadwell instead (which are two different location in London).
Love my language
يوم ان كنا مسلمين قولاً وفعلاً كنا اهلا للعلوم والحضاره .
That was the weirdest TED talk ever (or at least that I've seen so far)...
And that was definitely worth Sharing.
That build-up was brilliant
I like it when those Romans applause saying: Yeah 3:46
The older form of Spanish used the letter X to spell the sh sound (as is still done in the Portuguese and Catalan languages). This is why Spanish-America is peppered with place names spelled with X (such as Xochimilco). The letter X eventually began to be pronounced as either J or S (and often respelled to reflect that fact). That is why, for instance, in Spanish the names Javier and Xavier are both seen to this day, while only the form with the X is used in Portuguese and Catalan.
Oh so thats how خ is written in latin
Xochimilco is an Aztec word. It predates European colonization by quite a bit.
Like xavi, barcelona football player
Vignesh Balaji, that's what Mr Terry Moore has explained: chi is a deformation of the arabic word "شيء" (which means "something") which is pronounced "chay'a" in arabic and deformed to "chi" for an easy pronunciation by spanish, so that's why they chose the grec letter "chi"
I've sworn off TED videos until my exam was over but this was just too intriguing haha
'when you are around i wont show up' - music to my ears :)
very nice!!
simple questions very often have hard answers!
My first language is Arabic and I didn't thought that this the reason behind using 'x' as the unknown is the word "شيئ" which means 'something" in english. I thought the reason behind that is we use a letter in Arabic that similar to 'x' in english alphabet which is the letter "س". In middle school, we always used "س" as the unknown. I think the use of the letter "س" Arabic mathematics came from 17th century english math. I'm not sure.
proud to be an Arabian, proud to be a son to my ancestors
What happened nowadays to this great rich culture?
Well its a big meesed up story, it involves terrany, injustice and ignoring education :(
+Ahmed Essam El Fakharany actually there countless scientists in the USA who are Arabs.
coolro Arabs was teaching your dear US scientists
يا عم اتنيل بئا بلا قرف فخور ايه بس .. ان الله لا يحب كل مختال فخور
Ha ha ha ha love this honest to god it really sounded like he was going to say "You can't say sh** in Spanish" lollllllll
Most of these translations were made in a monastery in Ripoll. Monks from Ripoll used to spoke many languages, but their common language was Catalan, not Spanish. In Catalan we pronounce the letter X exactly as SH is pronouced in English.
As in Galicia, Asturias & The País Vasco..
i realized that when I knew Xavi de BFC :)
You make some very good points. Being proud just because you're here is silly.
Very Interesting. It's Amazing what information you come across when you find the roots of words
you are right my brother , as un arabic woman who lived in west for several years, I hope that too.
As soon as numbers became letters I was done with math
The letter is just a symbol to say "I don't know what this number is right now".
You can do all the same math with it as you did numbers, because it is a number itself that you simply don't know yet.
Haha me too xD
Kelly Stone
i swear I'm like u 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Connor Skudlarek
no we know what is the x its just a variation betwin numbers
same here xD
Arabic is really logical when it comes to the grammar. But when it comes to the poems, one can easily make grammar mistakes for the poem to rhyme. There are also many exceptions in grammar, for some words don't look "nice" if they are written according to the grammar. Some logical and at the same time illogical stuff also exists. For example, Arabic has "the plural of the plural." I'm really glad that I learned it when I was only a kid.
الفضل للعلماء المسلمين في تقدم العلوم
ناصر ابن حاتم
ماتسواهم ولا تجي قريب من مقامهم
Yousif Adnan الا مسلمين ولأنهم طبقوا دينهم وصلوا لما كانوا عليه الاسلام يأمر بالمعرفه والتعلم
@@googleuser4203 great answer bro
نعم
@@googleuser4203 تعلم عن الإسلام أولا قبل أن تأتي و تتهمنا. لعلمك قبل الإسلام كانوا العرب عائشين وقتها في الجاهلية إن دين الإسلام هو من علّم و نصر الأمة.
this was before we used the equations س+ص = ع . the old algebra was mostly done by long terms like شيئ + 3 = 7. you can also see that in the old algebra it was mostly definitions
How could I live without this information?!
What I am suggesting is that that very same degree you mentioned is a compilation of accomplishments of past individuals. That in their turn would build on top of others. But I do see your point. Pride is not the best suitable feeling towards our cultural ancestors. Perhaps admiration and inspiration would be more fit. Even so the feeling of admiration for the deeds of the group one considers oneself to be part is perfectly compatible with one of the meanings of Pride. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm fluent in Arabic! But I grew up mostly in Kansas. This is awesome!
Terry Moore - You are brilliant
I barely understood that and still watched the whole thing. Sweet.
It is also probably worth mentioning, that I am very thankful for the discovery of coffee, that originated in North Africa and was spread to Europe predominately from trades with Arabic people. Coffee > Tea > redbull in my opinion.
Im almost 28 and arabic is my mother language , i been to school since the age of 4 till 19 , language lesson were mandatory twice a day but i still know nothing about it ahahah man its more than an art
I like the tl;dr version of the talk he gives at the end.
I couldn't agree more. Thankfully, with the advances of globalization and global communication, I feel that these differences will be a thing of the past (give it a generation or 2). Best wishes.
X also marks the spot to dig for treasure. -- Very interesting talk.
we CAN say SH in spanish: in Argentina we replace the Y or the LL for the sound of the Y. It is just in a region of the country
شكرا جزيلا
Great video, thank you sir.
This was very interesting. I learned something new today!
" ش ع غ ظ ض ق خ " our letter that the others can't say it's right
I know 5 language but my language still the most beautiful one ... and I like the Italian too :3
you missed all forms of ء
firendable Oh sure how can I help you *^*
firendable you can ask about any thing when ever you want
How are they pronounced?
namida no arashi dude no P sound either. Or Ch sound.
X تعود أصوله للغة العربية!! وهذا ليس بالغريب تماما فنحن من صنعنا العلم والمعرفة وليس من صنع الإرهاب والظلام...
ومين قال اننا صنعنا الضلام والارهاب 😅
@@muadsaleh1061 The rest of the world.
لم نصنع العلم بل طورناه . كفاك مغالطات . تعلمو من الهند و من الإغريق . لاكنهم طوروها و زادوا عليها . و صدروها لأروبا
@@hamza-trabelsi لا يا رجل لم يكن للهند واليونان علم كي نطوره .بل نحن من أنشأ العلم العرب جبابرة التاريخ
@@mondolibero8136 روح اقرا التاريخ . بلى جبابرة بلى كلام فاضي . اصلا حتى العلماء المسلمين المعروفين لم يكونو عرب
i really don't know who would dislike this kind of information :?
Spanish letter "x" was also used to transcribe "sh" sounds in native Mexican words.
This was really beautiful...
He made pronunciation mistakes in Arabic, which isn't his first language, in the same way you made several spelling mistakes in English in that comment of yours. Humans make mistakes. He was amazing and got his message through, which was the whole point of the talk.
"Is it possible disentangle the personal accomplishments with the cultural background that person was immersed into?"
Yes, unless you're suggesting that something like earning a degree should make a person more proud than another earning the same degree because they're different races, or one was American and the other British, or one was male and the other was female, etc.
You're proud of the accomplishment, not because you achieved the accomplishment as someone of background X, Y, or Z.
His hair is dope . Love it
Curiously the sound "sh" later made it into Spanish, at least in some parts of Argentina, Uruguay ("y", "ll") and Mexico ("ch").
this is fascinating. and that ending was so funny :-D
Not world changing but a it's pretty curious question answered. I like it.
the answer to the question is much more interesting than expected.
Arab & Proud
عربيّ أنا :)
Arabic is a blessing to the scientific, economical and social communities
I think instead of gloating, we should work on ourselves now, because I definitely think our ancestors are NOT proud of us.
@Mexican Doggo The east and then the west destroyed us fighting for the coolness cup, dear.
I also admit the internal political and social problems.
Really funny. Never expected this to come my way...
Maria Alba
So crazy , now I know where the word Aljebra comes from and I was wondering about x, it does makes that x is used in every where in projects our ancestors were very. Smart people
Lovely lecture
المسلمون في قمة ازدهارهم شاركو في مسيرة تطوير العلم. لكن لايجوز ان نقول ان العرب اساس العلم. لان العرب كذلك استفادو من انجازات من قبلهم من الليونان مثلا.
Ali Alherz لكل عالم علم و ليس العلم للعالم فقط
فهذا ما فعل "المسلمون" أخذوا العلم طوره ووضعوه للملئ
واليونان اخذوا من السومريين العرب فالاصل في الحضارة انها اسلامية عربية ولله الحمد والمنه حمداً كثيراً طيباً نافعاً مباركاً فيه ملء السماوات وملء الارض وما بينهما وملء ما شئت من شي بعد
@@jokr611 لكن السومريون ليسوا عرب او مسلمين ؟؟ ارجو افادتي ان كنت تعلم عن هذا الموضوع
Great Video !! thanx 4 sharing
Reading the title I facepalmed. Turned out to be fascinating!
Thank God at least one of those European PLAGIARISTS spoke the truth about the Arab knowledge and science contributions!
Humanity is improving.
It's not the problem. The problem now is that the Arab world (especially gulf region). Has become very lazy. With all the oil and everything. Just sad man...
+Angry Panda true,same for oil rich countries in asia(e.g brunei)however,my country is still developing despite decline in oil prices
Your cry out is pathetic
firendable
because they took everything from the Arab
and ruined the African continents
We do actually recognize most of relevant arabic discoveries (and they aren't few), but most of these "hurr durr that country discovered first, you plagiarists" actually corresponds to somebody who was unable to proof (happened a lot, most people can conjecture, but to tackle the problem takes more work), only did a preceding part but did not finish the conclusion, or even just did not develop the thought as well as other knowns scientists.
And this does not limit itself to europeans vs islamics, actually, this used to happen all the time in academia. When fonts are not too credible, the author did not develop/shared the thought to a notable point (and a tons of other reasons), we attribute the discovery to former researchers. Examples are abundant, mostly with calculus, Archimedes, Leibniz and others got too little credit for it.
2:19
Just to point out for someone unfamiliar. The arabs (and many other languages, hindi included) writes from right-to-left (as oposing to western (left-to-right)
That is why this is the first letter of the word and it is at the right end
That's true, sure it would confuse many people. Thanks for the explanation
Hindi script is written left to right.
Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Pashto, Urdu and Sindhi are the most widespread RTL ( Right to Left) writing systems in modern times.
The eloquence of difficult language produced equations
Thank you
Could be but before Descartes, algebra translations from Arabic in Latin had a (xey) to denote the Arabic (shay'). eventually the 'e' and 'y' were dropped, or the 'y' was reused again anyway.. in the y-axis..
That is possible too
I road some parts of that book ,
In eather ways , the main source of X as an unknown is "Shay" :)
Thank for the new information
Great talk.
Great little video.
great talk
Nunca pense que la letra "x" aya surgido asi ,es sorprenderte saber su significado
as a replay to yours !
I am asking Terry Moore : why is ' X ' the multiplication?
I am a Linguist and i know the unswer.
His vew about ' X ' as the unknown is terribly funny!
Good question! It doesn't make much sense, does it?
But the answer is simple: the Spanish translators didn't use any Greek letters. They used the Latin letter X, which in Medieval Spanish was pronounced "sh".
great! I loved this information
shay'on ء is like saying a solid voice from your throut
Label funfact with surprising geographical implications. Well worth 4 minutes of anyone's time that happen to have an interest in history.
and he stood there at a TED stage to share info that could be found everywhere o the net? It is interesting but next I want to make a presentation about why a mile has its length and why a knot is a knot(speed) and why a circle has 360 degrees... I don not want to be an a hole but this was rare and awesome
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.
i like his way :) respect !
very neat, organized and interesting reasoning !!
so proud of my culture and ancestors !
Ted was awesome in explaining why is x the symbol for an unkown? . I thought he was amazing with it. me personally I don't know Arabic
This was great fun! Bravo!
The origin of X is Sanskrit letter क्ष (ksh), Arabic replaced this with sh (sheen), Spanish replaced it with Chi but both are incomplete. X translated from Chi is better still because it has both the original sounds!
"شيء" اخذها الأوربيين وجعلوها "x" ثم اخذها العرب من الاوربيين وجعلوها "س"
@@qusaiyounis-gz6tk هو يتحدث على المجهول في الرياضيات وليس على الحرف س
أظنها ش اختصارا (لشيء) ثم س بحذف النقاط اختصارا أيضا
Yes you are right, thank you so much. شيء =X
That's true 100% :) The word is being used in the new math is an Arabic work derived from the word "الجبر"
cheers for the synopsis.
A GREAT GREAT GREAT clip!!! Love it ...
It’s so worth saying! 🤣😍
We watched this in math today and I had to show my sister since she's takin Spanish. Haha
how did i arrive here? i just came on youtube to watch a music video and now wow
Witty closing remark :)