Question about Mathematics from Zamiatin.

[Anthony Anemone]

Thanks, Helena, it makes perfect sense that Z would intentionally use
"irrational" instead of the more correct form (and for the translator to
follow suit) for precisely the reason you suggest.  And the indirect
reference to I-330 is also good.

Tony


On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 2:45 PM, Helena Goscilo <goscilo at gmail.com> wrote:

> Tony, an imaginary number (and, indeed, the square foot of one is
> precisely that, though mathematicians call it a complex no.) contains a
> real number and a negative or empirically non-existent ('imaginary') one
> that is useful to engineers and mathematicians in formulas. ​Imaginary
> numbers may be rational or irrational.
>
> Irrational numbers *cannot be expressed as a ratio (hence they're ir-*
> ratio
> -*nal) of two integers. *Any time I teach sci-fi, and my syllabus
> invariably includes Zamiatin's *My*, I explain to students that, since
> the volume addresses the limits of reason, his choice of adjective
> emphasizes the protagonist's enmity to the assault on reason represented by
> such a number. And, incidentally, since* i *figures prominently in
> imaginary number, as those who are versed in math know, the indirect
> reference is to I-330, the articulate proponent of irrationality.
>
> Does this help? Those with a more sophisticated knowledge than I can
> doubtless explain it better.
>
> Helena
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 2:27 PM, Anthony Anemone <AnemoneA at newschool.edu>wrote:
>
>> 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>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
>>>
>>> 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  fax (202) 885-1076
>>> aisrael at american.edu
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>> http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Tony Anemone
>> Associate Professor
>> The New School
>> 72 Fifth Ave, 702
>> New York, NY 10011
>>
>>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>> http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Helena Goscilo - ON LEAVE THIS YEAR (2013-2014)
> Professor
> DSEELC/Dept. of Slavic & East European Languages & Cultures
> Affiliate Faculty in Comparative Studies, Film, Folklore, Popular Culture,
> WGSS
> OSU
>
>
> Motto:
> "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole
> book." Friedrich Nietzsche
> "Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about
> it, as well as contributing to the need for it." Alfred Hitchcock
>
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>



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

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/seelang/attachments/20131207/04d4dc30/attachment.html>