maths

[Amaton]

When did "frequent" become a noun?

 

It's a colloquial form of frequenter (with no official denotation).

 

Edit: By the way, though I did not mean it in this manner, the usage can be interpreted as usage of adjectives as nouns. Can you fetch me my deliverable? I read that it's actually characteristic of language in scientific circles (literature or casual discussion, I'm not sure), despite being frowned upon grammatically.

Edited August 21, 2013 by Amaton

[StringJunky]

... Since the M word was mentioned.... It becomes necessary to point out that this entire thread is intended to be read with your tongue in your cheek.

 

English is a silly language... Like math. You can tell when you really get into it when you're legitimately frustrated by it.... Not out of a lack of understanding.. but because you're mad at it personally.

I enjoyed your mock-petulant rant...I understand where you are coming from. Much to your disappointment it is "maths" every time for me. though Probably, the correct form should be math's with an apostrophe in place of the missing letters.

[Amaton]

Before this thread, I never gave much thought to the fact that my classmates and I tend to refer to statistics as "stats" (more so to the class than the actual subject though). I was just a bit surprised since "maths" always sounded odd to my ear, but now I have something to relate.

[StringJunky]

Before I called it maths, as a child, I called the subject sums so that's maybe where the end s stems from..

[Amaton]

Before I called it maths, as a child, I called the subject sums so that's maybe where the end s stems from..

 

I think the abbreviation explanation is more likely. "Mathematics" is an odd plural form, and we keep the "-s" when we abbreviate it. Though we ever rarely say "maths" here in the US, many college students do say "stats" for statistics (though "stat" may be a bit more common)

 

All in all, it ties back to the plurality of the subject name. "-matics" has a sense of mechanical observation: blueprints, movement, mechanism, etc. With mathematics, we are studying the "blueprints and mechanisms" of quantitative entities and their logical relations, loosely speaking -- and at a progressed level, constructing our own abstract devices.

 

One can look to chemistry. Besides the reference to the generic subject itself, we can speak of the chemistry of a certain substance, i.e. its states, its bonding, reactive tendencies, role in larger structures, etc. Hypothetically speaking, we could have ended up with "chemistries", which bears similar sense to mathematics as described above.

[studiot]

 

I think the abbreviation explanation is more likely. "Mathematics" is an odd plural form

 

Amaton have you seen this thread and my post #7 in particular.

 

 

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/78136-what-is-mathematics/

 

Mathematics was officially plural in the days before America was discovered, and was taught in Latin as a group of disciplines at European universities.

 

In modern times it is now officially singular, but the s is retained.

[John Cuthber]

 

To avoid red marks for something said in jest it is wise to add a smiley, lest your intention is misunderstood.

Perhaps someone should add a smiley to the thread's title

[ewmon]

I hope this is all tongue in cheek, otherwise we'd want them to stop saying "whilst" where merely "while" would suffice, and then there's all those instances of "ou" (eg, "colour") where merely an "o" would suffice (eg, "color"). They can't even spell "offense" and "defense", so it's no wonder they would have lost WW2 without our help (and they don't even say "World War Two", they say "the Second World War". C'mon people, no wonder they were losing!). Don't they realize (or "realise" — because they confuse their z's and s's) that WE won it? And who gave them permission to use "lorry" instead of "truck"? They also stress lots of wrong syllables, as when saying "weekEND" and "prinCESS". Blimey (or is that "Crikey"), who taught the English to speak English??

 

As someone famous once said, two countries divided by a common language.

[Amaton]

Mathematics was officially plural in the days before America was discovered, and was taught in Latin as a group of disciplines at European universities.

 

In modern times it is now officially singular, but the s is retained.

 

I was somewhat aware of the discrepancy, which is why I said it was one of the odd plurals (derived as a plural, but treated as singular in construction). Though all in all, I never knew that. Thanks.

[Didymus]

I enjoyed your mock-petulant rant...I understand where you are coming from. Much to your disappointment it is "maths" every time for me. though

The new prince has bad teeth and a speech impediment.

[John Cuthber]

I rather suspect that the new prince has no teeth and no speech.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George_of_Cambridge

[Amaton]

The new prince has bad teeth and a speech impediment.

 

Well our new presidential family member here in the US has bad breath and is incapable of speech (but then again, she's a dog).

[Didymus]

The difference? The dog will never mispronounced "math."

 

 

'MERICA! pew pew pew.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Didymus

[Function]

let's all just speak Dutch

can't be easier: Math(s?) = Wiskunde..

that's it. No s, no discussions on how to write it

[John Cuthber]

let's all just speak Dutch

can't be easier: Math(s?) = Wiskunde..

that's it. No s, no discussions on how to write it

If there's no S, do you mean "Wikunde" ?

[Function]

If there's no S, do you mean "Wikunde" ?

 

Touché...

 

Well, you know what I mean

very simple in Dutch: no s at the end: Physics = fysica/natuurkunde; math(s) = wiskunde (or if you go a bit 'far'; mathematiek

Edited October 10, 2013 by Function