51吃瓜 of the Day
tesseract
noun
the generalization of a cube to four dimensions.
More about tesseract
Tesseract 鈥渁 four-dimensional cube鈥� derives from Ancient Greek 迟茅蝉蝉别谤别蝉 (also 迟茅迟迟补谤别蝉) 鈥渇our,鈥� which is also the source of tessellate 鈥渢o form small squares,鈥� after the number of sides in a square, and the combining form tetra- 鈥渇our,鈥� as in tetrahedron, a figure with four faces, and tetralogy, a series of four related books or films. 罢茅蝉蝉别谤别蝉 comes from the Proto-Indo-European root kwetwer-, which is the source of English four, forty, fortnight, and farthing and Latin quattuor and quadri- 鈥渇our鈥� (as in quatrain, a four-line poem, and quad, a four-sided common space), 辩耻腻谤迟耻蝉 鈥渇ourth鈥� (as in quarter, which is one-fourth of a dollar), and quater 鈥渇our times鈥澛� (as in quaternary 鈥渃onsisting of four鈥�). Tesseract was first recorded in English in the late 1880s.
how is tesseract used?
The robot is building a tesseract. He motions at a glowing cube floating before him, and an identical cube emerges. He drags it to the left, but the two cubes stay connected, strung together by glowing lines radiating from their corners. The robot lowers its hands, and the cubes coalesce into a single shape鈥攚ith 24 square faces, 16 vertices, and eight connected cubes existing in four dimensions. A tesseract. This isn’t a video game. It’s a classroom. And the robot is Brian Greene, a physicist at Columbia University and bestselling author of several popular science books.
tesseract
cenotaph
noun
a sepulchral monument erected in memory of a deceased person whose body is buried elsewhere.
More about cenotaph
Cenotaph 鈥渁 monument erected in memory of a person buried elsewhere鈥� derives by way of Latin cenotaphium from Ancient Greek 办别苍辞迟谩辫丑颈辞苍, literally meaning 鈥渆mpty tomb,鈥� from 办别苍贸蝉 鈥渆mpty鈥� and 迟谩辫丑辞蝉 鈥渢omb.鈥� A common misconception is that the ceno- element of cenotaph is related to the identical combining forms ceno- (also caeno- or caino-) 鈥渘ew鈥� and ceno- (also coeno-) 鈥渃ommon,鈥� but despite the resemblance, there is no connection. The diphthongs ai and oi in Ancient Greek, which were adapted as ae and oe in Latin, both frequently become e in American English, which can easily result in homonyms鈥攚ords that sound and are spelled the same but are unrelated. A similar example occurred with the element pedo- in pedology, which can mean 鈥渟oil science鈥� when pedo- is derived from Ancient Greek 辫茅诲辞苍 鈥渟oil,鈥� or can mean 鈥渢he study of child development鈥� when pedo- is derived from Ancient Greek 辫补卯蝉 (stem paid-) 鈥渃hild.鈥� Cenotaph was first recorded at the turn of the 17th century.
how is cenotaph used?
Archaeologists said on Friday they had discovered an ancient cenotaph that almost certainly commemorated the legendary founder of Rome, Romulus, buried in the heart of the Italian capital. The small chamber containing a simple sarcophagus and round stone block was originally found at the start of the last century beneath the Capitoline Hill inside the old Roman forum.
cenotaph
nugatory
adjective
of no force or effect; ineffective; futile; vain.
More about nugatory
Nugatory 鈥渙f no force or effect鈥� comes from Latin 苍奴驳腻迟艒谤颈耻蝉 鈥渨orthless, useless,鈥� from the verb 苍奴驳腻谤墨 鈥渢o trifle.鈥� 狈奴驳腻谤墨, in turn, derives from the plural noun 苍奴驳补别 鈥渢rifles, idle talk, frivolities,鈥� which is also the source of nugacious, a synonym of nugatory, and nugacity, a noun that means 鈥渋nsignificance.鈥� While it may seem odd that Latin features nouns such as 苍奴驳补别 that always appear in the plural, English is no stranger to nouns that usually or exclusively appear in plural form. Many objects that contain two component parts, such as pants, trousers, scissors, and shears, are typically limited to the plural, as are certain location-related words, such as headquarters and surroundings. Nugatory was first recorded in English at the turn of the 17th century.
how is nugatory used?
I am sending you herewith photo and description of our pressure testing machine. It is our belief that the method and construction employed entirely avoid errors from the following sources: (1) Variation in wind velocity; (2) Variations in temperature and density of the atmosphere; (3) Travel of center of pressure; (4) Variation in angle of incidence owing to movements of the mounting arms, The first two causes gave Mr. Langley trouble; while the third and fourth vitiate somewhat the natural wind experiments of Lilienthal. Gravity and centrifugal force are also rendered nugatory.
While outdated theory may not render one’s interpretations nugatory, they may seem quaint to those who work within the field from which the ideas came, and intramural strife, if it remains unobserved, can not then serve to provide occasions for fruitful comparison, since intellectual battles in one arena often have interesting parallels and previously unimagined consequences within another.
nugatory