英語四級翻譯：那些復(fù)雜到讓你困惑的簡單小事(10)

英語四級翻譯：那些復(fù)雜到讓你困惑的簡單小事(10)

10.The Proof For '1 1=2′ Is 300 Pages Long

為了證明1 1=2，數(shù)學家用了300多頁紙來計算

The equation 1 1=2 is probably the very first bit of math that most of us learned, because addition and subtraction are probably the simplest concepts in mathematics. If you have one apple and somebody gives you another, you have two apples. By the same logic, if you have two apples and someone takes one away, you only have one apple. It's a universal fact of life that transcends barriers like language or race. Which is what makes the following sentence so unbelievable: The proof for 1 1=2 is well over 300 pages long and it wasn't conclusively proven until the 20th century.

1 1=2這個等式或許是我們大多數(shù)人最先學到的數(shù)學知識，因為加法和減法也許是數(shù)學中最簡單的概念。如果你有一個蘋果，某人又給了你一個，那么你就有兩個蘋果。同樣的邏輯，如果你有兩個蘋果，某人拿走了一個，那么你就剩一個蘋果了。這是生活中普遍存在的一個事實。也許人們語言不通，種族不同，但他們都認同這一等式。正因為道理如此簡單，才得使下面這句話令人難以置信：1 1=2的證明用了300多頁紙，并且直到20世紀才被完全證實。

As Stephen Fry explains in this handy clip, in the early 20th century, Bertrand Russell wanted to conclusively prove that mathematics worked, so he decided to start with the simplest concept we know of and went right ahead and proved 1 1=2. However, what sounds like an incredibly simple task actually took the mathematician and philosopher 372 pages of complex sums. The mammoth solution was published as Principia Mathematica across three volumes, which we invite you to read if you aren't planning on doing anything for the next few weeks.

正如斯蒂芬?弗雷在這個有用的視頻片段中所解釋的那樣，20世紀早期，伯特蘭?羅素想要結(jié)論性地證明數(shù)學的原理，所以他決定從我們所知道的最簡單的概念開始，然后再進一步深入，由此他證明了1 1=2。雖然這個任務(wù)聽上去無比簡單，卻讓這位數(shù)學家和哲學家用了372頁紙來進行復(fù)雜的計算。這一繁雜的驗證步驟發(fā)表在《數(shù)學原理》1上，貫穿全書全三卷的內(nèi)容。如果接下來的幾周你沒有什么事情要做的話，我們推薦你去讀一讀這本書。

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