Re: [Phys-l] disambiguating the terminology

[curtis osterhoudt <flutzpah@yahoo.com>]

All good points that John Denker makes.


One needs to remember that the terminology may sometimes so influence various perceptions that there is almost no disambiguation possible.


See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b71rT9fU-I ; , especially starting at the three-minute mark. 

 



> ________________________________
> From: John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>
> To: Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu> 
> Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 10:41 AM
> Subject: [Phys-l] disambiguating the terminology
>
> On 02/16/2012 06:10 AM, Ken Caviness wrote:
>
> > Clearly _she_ is not confusing true north with grid north, or grid 
> > south with true south.
>
> That illustrates a common category of problems, and also nicely
> illustrates the solution.
>
> A big part of the teaching job is to prevent confusion (or resolve
> existing confusion).  This is a big part of the research job as well.
>
> Very commonly, confusion arises when the same word is being used 
> with two (or more!) different meanings.  Examples of a single term 
> with multiple inconsistent meanings include
> -- elastic
> -- organic
> -- adiabatic
> -- heating
> -- generator (in mathematics)
> -- blue
>
> I'm not kidding;  the color that would be called "blue" if you bought
> a blue shirt would be called "cyan" in the printing trades.  Additional
> weird terminology can be found at
>   http://www.av8n.com/physics/weird-terminology.htm
>
> Suggestion:  When you or a student is confused, check to see whether the 
> terms are being used consistently.  This sounds simple, but in fact it
> remarkably difficult.  It requires seriously racking one's brain.  Smart
> people get this wrong all the time ... as is documented, for example, in 
> the pathetically confused literature on the definition of "heat".
>
> Obvious suggestion:  When you find a problem of this kind, you can fix it
> changing the terminology.
> *) Sometimes the simplest approach is to add adjectives or other qualifiers,
>   as in 
>   ++ "true north" versus 
>   ++ "magnetic north" versus
>   ++ "grid north".
> *) Sometimes it is better to find (or coin) completely different
>   terminology, as in 
>   ++ adiabatic --> thermally insulated or 
>   ++ adiabatic --> corresponding states (which implies isentropic).
>
> _______________________________________________
> Forum for Physics Educators
> Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
> https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l