Why is 'x' the unknown? | Terry Moore

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Jenny Zurawell

Translator: Abdinasser Ahmed Reviewer: Jamal Omar

I have the answer to a question that we've all asked.

Waxaan hayaa jawaabta suaasha aan dhamaanteen is waydiinay

The question is,

suaashu waxay tahay,

Why is it that the letter X

Sababta xarafka X

represents the unknown?

ugu taaganyahay midkaan la garanayn?

Now I know we learned that in math class,

iminka waxaan ogahay inaan taas ku soo baranay fasalka xisaabta,

but now it's everywhere in the culture --

laakiin iminka meel kasta way ku jirtaa --

The X prize, the X-Files,

X prize-ta X-files-ka,

Project X, TEDx.

project X-ka, TEDx-ta

Where'd that come from?

halkay taasi ka timid?

About six years ago

qiyaastii lix sano ka hor

I decided that I would learn Arabic,

waxaan go'aansaday inaan barto Carabida

which turns out to be a supremely logical language.

taasoo u muuqata inay tahay luuqad caqliyeed oo sareysa.

To write a word or a phrase

in la qoro kelmad ama kelmad isku xidhan

or a sentence in Arabic

ama odhaah lagu qoro Carabi

is like crafting an equation,

waa sida dhirindhirinta qaaciido,

because every part is extremely precise

maxaa yeelay qayb kasta ilaa xad way cadahay

and carries a lot of information.

waxayna sidaa xog aad u badan.

That's one of the reasons

taas waa mid ka mida sababaha

so much of what we've come to think of

inta waxay tahay inaynu kaga fekerno

as Western science and mathematics and engineering

cilmiga reer galbeedka iyo xisaabta iyo muhadisnimada

was really worked out in the first few centuries of the Common Era

in runtii ay hore uga shaqeeyeen qarniyadii ugu horeeyey ee Common Era (BC)

by the Persians and the Arabs and the Turks.

Beershiyaanka, Carabta iyo Turkidu.

This includes the little system in Arabic

tan waxaa ku jirta habka yar ee Carabiga ah

called al-jebra.

ee lagu magcaabo Aljabra.

And al-jebr roughly translates to

Aljabr waxaa sida caadiga lagu turjumaa

"the system for reconciling disparate parts."

"habka laysugu xidhayo qaybaha kala baahsan."

Al-jebr finally came into English as algebra.

Aljabr ugu danbayntii waxay ingiriisi isu bedeshay Algebra.

One example among many.

tusaale ka mida waxyaalahas badan

The Arabic texts containing this mathematical wisdom

qoraalka Carabida ee ay ku jirto xigmada xisaabtu

finally made their way to Europe --

ugu danbayntii waxay timid Yurub--

which is to say Spain --

taaso ah, aan dhaho Isbayn--

in the 11th and 12th centuries.

qarnigii koobiyo tobnaan iyo labiyo tobnaad.

And when they arrived

markay soo gaadhay

there was tremendous interest

waxaa jirtay xiiso baaxad wayn

in translating this wisdom

oo loo hayey u turjumida xikmadan

into a European language.

luuqadaha reer Yurub.

But there were problems.

laakiin waxaa jirtay dhibaatooyin.

One problem

dhibaato ka mida

is there are some sounds in Arabic

waxay ahayd tiraabta codka ee Carabida

that just don't make it through a European voice box

taason lagu odhan karin codka reer Yurub

without lots of practice.

iyadoon aad loogu celcelin.

Trust me on that one.

taas iga rumaysta

Also, those very sounds

sidoo kale, codadkaas iyaga ah

tend not to be represented

waxay noqdeen kuwaan ka muuqan

by the characters that are available in European languages.

xarfaha ku jira luuqadaha reer Yurub.

Here's one of the culprits.

halkan waxaa ah mid ka mida khaladaadka

This is the letter sheen,

xarafkan waa shiin,

and it makes the sound we think of as SH -- "sh."

waxayna samaysaa codka aan filayno inuu yahay shi'-- "sh'"

It's also the very first letter

waana mid kamida xarfaha ugu horeeya

of the word shayun,

ee kelmada shay'un,

which means "something"

taasoo macnaheedu yahay "wuxuun"

just like the the English word "something" --

sida kelmada Ingiriisida ee "wuxuun" --

some undefined, unknown thing.

wax aan qayaxnayn, shay aan la garanayn.

Now in Arabic,

iminka Carabida,

we can make this definite

waxaan ka dhigi karnaa tan mid qayaxan

by adding the definite article "al."

inagoo ku darayna xarfahah "al"

So this is al-shayun --

markaa waa alshay'un

the unknown thing.

shayga aan la garanayn.

And this is a word that appears throughout early mathematics,

tani waa kelmadii ka muuqan jirtay xiliyadii hore ee xisaabta,

such as this 10th-century derivation of roots.

sida dhirindhirintan qarnigii tobnaad ah

The problem for the Medieval Spanish scholars

dhibaatada heshay aqoonyahankii Medieval Spanish

who were tasked with translating this material

ee loo xilsaaray turjumida arintan

is that the letter sheen and the word shayun

waxay ahayd in kelmada shiin ama xarafka shay'un

can't be rendered into Spanish

inaan laga dhigi karin Isbaanish

because Spanish doesn't have that SH,

sababtoo ah Isbaanishku ma laha Sha',

that "sh" sound.

codka "sha'

So by convention,

markaa waxaa laysla qaatay,

they created a rule in which

sameeyeen xeer ay

they borrowed the CK sound, "ck" sound,

ka soo amaahdeen codka CK, codka "ka'

from the classical Greek

taasoo ay ka soo qaateen Giriigii hore

in the form of the letter Kai.

oo ah qaabka xaraka kaay.

Later when this material was translated

ka dib markii tan loo bedelay

into a common European language,

luuqadihi caadiga ahaa ee reer Yurub,

which is to say Latin,

oo ah Laatiinka,

they simply replaced the Greek Kai

waxay si dhibyar ugu bedeleen Kaay-dii Giriiga

with the Latin X.

xarkii X

And once that happened,

markii taasi dhacdayna,

once this material was in Latin,

markii tani noqotay Laatiin

it formed the basis for mathematics textbooks

waxay samaysay buugaagta aasaasiga ee xiisaabta

for almost 600 years.

ilaa lix boqol oo sano,

But now we have the answer to our question.

hadaba iminka aan ka jawaabno suaasheeni

Why is it that X is the unknown?

maxay X u tahay mid aan la garanayn

X is the unknown

X waa mid aan la garanayn

because you can't say "sh" in Spanish.

sababtu waa inaysan ku odhan karayn "sha' luuqada Isbaanishka

(Laughter)

(qosol)

And I thought that was worth sharing.

waxaanan filayaa inay taasi tamay mid mudan inaan idinla wadaago

(Applause)

(sacab)