[ASK] How to Read A'?

Monox D. I-Fly · 2019-03-24 14:30:18

If an ABC triangle is transformed, the result will be triangle A'B'C'. In my country, A' is read as "A accent". However, when I saw this transformation video (http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=18777&CategoryID=4096), they seem to pronounce A' as "A prime", "A point", "A prune", "A plum", whichever was right since I drag at English-listening. So, can you people tell me what exactly do they say how to pronounce A'?

Jai Ganesh · 2019-03-24 16:08:34

Hi,

A dash or A prime may be correct!

zetafunc · 2019-03-24 21:51:02

A' is read as 'A dash' in British English and 'A prime' in American English, although at my university 'A prime' was far more common, probably due to American influence.

In Littlewood's Miscellany, Littlewood jokes about this notation used in the context of sets (in point-set topology, A' is the set of all limit points of A, so that A' is called the derived set of A).

John E. Littlewood wrote:

I have had occasion to read aloud the phrase "where E' is any dashed (i.e. derived) set". It is necessary to place the stress with care.

phrontister · 2019-03-25 02:12:37

zetafunc wrote:

probably due to American influence.

Down here in Australia I haven't come across " ' " being read as "prime".

However, probably also due to American influence, "prime" is popular on English-spoken youtube videos featuring Rubik's cube solution algorithms, where " ' " placed immediately after the letter signifying a cube face denotes the anticlockwise (instead of the default clockwise) rotation of that face (eg, L', R', U', D' for left, right, up, down, respectively).

So for those examples, they say "left prime", "right prime", "up prime", "down prime".

Last edited by phrontister (2019-03-26 00:27:32)

Monox D. I-Fly · 2019-03-25 14:10:16

zetafunc wrote:

A' is read as 'A dash' in British English and 'A prime' in American English, although at my university 'A prime' was far more common, probably due to American influence.
In Littlewood's Miscellany, Littlewood jokes about this notation used in the context of sets (in point-set topology, A' is the set of all limit points of A, so that A' is called the derived set of A).
John E. Littlewood wrote:
I have had occasion to read aloud the phrase "where E' is any dashed (i.e. derived) set". It is necessary to place the stress with care.

And here I thought that A' in the context of sets meant the complement of A.

Mathegocart · 2019-03-25 16:49:33

Seconding zetafunc and phrontister above, I've always heard A' be called "A prime" in American English. It is interesting to see the diversity of terminology across the world.

Monox D. I-Fly · 2019-03-25 20:11:26

I wonder how my language read it as "A accent".

zetafunc · 2019-03-25 22:02:39

Monox D. I-Fly wrote:

And here I thought that A' in the context of sets meant the complement of A.

It can indeed -- the notation can be quite varied!

Monox D. I-Fly · 2019-03-27 13:38:17

zetafunc wrote:

Monox D. I-Fly wrote:
And here I thought that A' in the context of sets meant the complement of A.
It can indeed -- the notation can be quite varied!

Wait, there are English-speaking countries which also symbolize the complement of A as A'?

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2019-03-24 14:30:18

[ASK] How to Read A'?

#2 2019-03-24 16:08:34

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

#3 2019-03-24 21:51:02

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

#4 2019-03-25 02:12:37

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

#5 2019-03-25 14:10:16

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

#6 2019-03-25 16:49:33

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

#7 2019-03-25 20:11:26

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

#8 2019-03-25 22:02:39

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

#9 2019-03-27 13:38:17

Re: [ASK] How to Read A'?

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