Question about Mathematics from Zamiatin.

E Wayles Browne ewb2 at CORNELL.EDU
Sat Dec 7 19:59:31 UTC 2013 

Right. And then a complex number (kompleksnoe chislo) is what you get when you add a normal sort of positive or negative number (technical term: a real number) to so-and-so many imaginary units (mnimix edinic). 
An irrational number (irracional'noe chislo) is a real number, nothing imaginary about it, but it's one that you can't express as a fraction (as a whole number divided by another whole number).
Really it's all the same terminology in both languages, and Zamiatin was mixed up--or maybe he just liked the connotations of the word irrational.
--
Wayles Browne, Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of Belousova, Vera <belousov at OHIO.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, December 7, 2013 2:34 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Question about Mathematics from Zamiatin.

The correct Russian translation for "imaginary number" is "мнимое число". The square root of -1 (or i) is мнимая единица.


________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Anthony Anemone [AnemoneA at NEWSCHOOL.EDU]
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2013 2:27 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Question about Mathematics from Zamiatin.

Interesting, but then is Zamiatin's usage of иррациональный an error, or a reflection of different usage in Russian at the beginning of the 19th century?

Tony


On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 2:18 PM, Alina Israeli <aisrael at american.edu<mailto:aisrael at american.edu>> wrote:
No, square root of -1, know as i  is called комплéксное число (with a stress on e, unlike the regular use with a stress on o): http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D1%87%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE<http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%25D0%259A%25D0%25BE%25D0%25BC%25D0%25BF%25D0%25BB%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BA%25D1%2581%25D0%25BD%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B5_%25D1%2587%25D0%25B8%25D1%2581%25D0%25BB%25D0%25BE>

On Dec 7, 2013, at 12:46 PM, Anthony Anemone wrote:

Dear colleagues,

I'm puzzled about Zamaitin's usage of иррациональный when referring to the square root of -1.  As far as I understand math terminology in English (not that far!), wouldn't that be an imaginary number?  Perhaps terminology in Russian is different?

Thanks!

Tony
--
Tony Anemone
Associate Professor
The New School
72 Fifth Ave, 702
New York, NY 10011

Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
WLC, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387<tel:%28202%29%20885-2387>  fax (202) 885-1076<tel:%28202%29%20885-1076>
aisrael at american.edu<mailto:aisrael at american.edu>





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--
Tony Anemone
Associate Professor
The New School
72 Fifth Ave, 702
New York, NY 10011

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