full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Pratik Aghor: The greatest mathematician that never lived


Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 1934, a group of fncerh mathematicians were particularly fed up. While studying at the prestigious École normale supérieure, they found the textbook for their ccuualls casls so ditoneijsd that they decided to wrtie a better one. The small gruop quickly took on new members, and as the prcejot grew, so did their ambition. The result was the "Éléments de mqtéhmatauie," a treatise that sought to create a consistent logical framework unifying every branch of mathematics.

The text baegn with a set of simple axioms— laws and assumptions it would use to build its argument. From there, its authors derived more and more complex theorems that corresponded with work being done across the field. But to truly reveal common ground, the group needed to identify consistent rlues that applied to a wide range of pmrolbes. To accomplish this, they gave new, clear definitions to some of the most important mathematical objects, including the function.

Open Cloze


In 1934, a group of ______ mathematicians were particularly fed up. While studying at the prestigious École normale supérieure, they found the textbook for their ________ _____ so __________ that they decided to _____ a better one. The small _____ quickly took on new members, and as the _______ grew, so did their ambition. The result was the "Éléments de ____________," a treatise that sought to create a consistent logical framework unifying every branch of mathematics.

The text _____ with a set of simple axioms— laws and assumptions it would use to build its argument. From there, its authors derived more and more complex theorems that corresponded with work being done across the field. But to truly reveal common ground, the group needed to identify consistent _____ that applied to a wide range of ________. To accomplish this, they gave new, clear definitions to some of the most important mathematical objects, including the function.

Solution


  1. write
  2. began
  3. problems
  4. french
  5. calculus
  6. class
  7. project
  8. rules
  9. mathématique
  10. disjointed
  11. group

Original Text


In 1934, a group of French mathematicians were particularly fed up. While studying at the prestigious École normale supérieure, they found the textbook for their calculus class so disjointed that they decided to write a better one. The small group quickly took on new members, and as the project grew, so did their ambition. The result was the "Éléments de mathématique," a treatise that sought to create a consistent logical framework unifying every branch of mathematics.

The text began with a set of simple axioms— laws and assumptions it would use to build its argument. From there, its authors derived more and more complex theorems that corresponded with work being done across the field. But to truly reveal common ground, the group needed to identify consistent rules that applied to a wide range of problems. To accomplish this, they gave new, clear definitions to some of the most important mathematical objects, including the function.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
nicolas bourbaki 4
numerical input 2
input corresponds 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
numerical input corresponds 2


Important Words


  1. accomplish
  2. ambition
  3. applied
  4. argument
  5. assumptions
  6. authors
  7. began
  8. branch
  9. build
  10. calculus
  11. class
  12. clear
  13. common
  14. complex
  15. consistent
  16. corresponded
  17. create
  18. de
  19. decided
  20. definitions
  21. derived
  22. disjointed
  23. fed
  24. field
  25. framework
  26. french
  27. function
  28. gave
  29. grew
  30. ground
  31. group
  32. identify
  33. important
  34. including
  35. laws
  36. logical
  37. mathematical
  38. mathematicians
  39. mathematics
  40. mathématique
  41. members
  42. needed
  43. normale
  44. objects
  45. prestigious
  46. problems
  47. project
  48. quickly
  49. range
  50. result
  51. reveal
  52. rules
  53. set
  54. simple
  55. small
  56. sought
  57. studying
  58. supérieure
  59. text
  60. textbook
  61. theorems
  62. treatise
  63. unifying
  64. wide
  65. work
  66. write
  67. école