英語(yǔ)四級(jí)翻譯：那些復(fù)雜到讓你困惑的簡(jiǎn)單小事(10)

英語(yǔ)四級(jí)翻譯：那些復(fù)雜到讓你困惑的簡(jiǎn)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(xué)家用了300多頁(yè)紙來(lái)計(jì)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(gè)等式或許是我們大多數(shù)人最先學(xué)到的數(shù)學(xué)知識(shí)，因?yàn)榧臃ê蜏p法也許是數(shù)學(xué)中最簡(jiǎn)單的概念。如果你有一個(gè)蘋果，某人又給了你一個(gè)，那么你就有兩個(gè)蘋果。同樣的邏輯，如果你有兩個(gè)蘋果，某人拿走了一個(gè)，那么你就剩一個(gè)蘋果了。這是生活中普遍存在的一個(gè)事實(shí)。也許人們語(yǔ)言不通，種族不同，但他們都認(rèn)同這一等式。正因?yàn)榈览砣绱撕?jiǎn)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(yè)紙，并且直到20世紀(jì)才被完全證實(shí)。

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(gè)有用的視頻片段中所解釋的那樣，20世紀(jì)早期，伯特蘭?羅素想要結(jié)論性地證明數(shù)學(xué)的原理，所以他決定從我們所知道的最簡(jiǎn)單的概念開始，然后再進(jìn)一步深入，由此他證明了1 1=2。雖然這個(gè)任務(wù)聽上去無(wú)比簡(jiǎn)單，卻讓這位數(shù)學(xué)家和哲學(xué)家用了372頁(yè)紙來(lái)進(jìn)行復(fù)雜的計(jì)算。這一繁雜的驗(yàn)證步驟發(fā)表在《數(shù)學(xué)原理》1上，貫穿全書全三卷的內(nèi)容。如果接下來(lái)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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