Alas, Stolen Meanings are
Inevitable Even in “Pure” Mathematics
By
Howard Richler
In his New York Times
article Stop Saying “Exponential”
Sincerely, a Math Nerd of March 4th, math professor Manil Suri railed against the
increasing use of “exponential” to mean “a
whole lot” and declares this is erroneous because the word should only be
applied towards a trend not a single
comparison. Hence, he believes a Washington Post report on “exponentially
richer private-sector jobs” represents a misuse of the term.
Dr Suri
recognizes that “English has a long
history of borrowing specialized words for other purposes – for example, ‘catalyst’
from chemistry being applied to people. But an essential characteristic of
mathematics, one it arguably lives and dies by, is precision.”
Oh really?
Let’s look at some “precise” mathematic terms. “Corollary” is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as “In Geometry,
etc. A proposition appended to another which has been demonstrated, and
following immediately from it without new proof; hence gen.an
immediate inference, deduction, consequence.”
Its first use in this sense is found in Chaucer’s translation of
Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy. But by 1674, we see this generalized OED definition: “Something that follows
in natural course; a practical consequence, result.”
Another mathematical term that has seen added meanings is “tangent.” The OED
shows this 1594 definition “Geometry. Of a line or surface in
relation to another (curved) line or surface: Touching, i.e. meeting at a point
and (ordinarily) not intersecting” But by 1823 the burgeoning field of
crystallography used it to mean “Applied to a plane replacing an edge or solid
angle of a crystal (which is more properly a secant plane.” Alas, even non-scientific senses developed
such a “flying off at a tangent” to mean “erratic” and a general sense of
something “touching” or “contiguous.”
Similarly, “parameter” originally only had a mathematical sense in the
17th century but in the interim years is has been adopted by the
fields of electricity, statistics and
music and in the 20th century it has acquired a generalized sense to refer to any distinguishing or defining
characteristic. “Perimiter” has roots in geometry but has been adopted by
ophthalmology, the military, and (horrors!) even basketball.
Dr Suri ends his piece by saying “math is one of the few institutions
we have left free of doublespeak or embellishment or biased opinion. Its words
are supposed to mean exactly what they say.”
As I’ve demonstrated, it ain’t so.
Q.E.D.