Re: Math and Scientific Terminology in Maalam

[Imed Chihi <imed at linux dot com dot tn>]

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Youcef,

I'm from Tunisia and, unfortunately, we still don't have a thourough Arabic 
math curriculum. Kids attend math courses till 9th form in Arabic and 
abruptly switch to French the following year. This is, actually, better than 
in the past where Arabic teaching used to stop at the 6th form, it's a 
progressive migration to an all-Arabic mathematics curriculum.

Therefore, I may not be able to find a Tunisian official document referring to 
relatively "advanced" math concepts as trigonometry and functions for now. If 
you think it may help you have an idea about how things are tought here, I 
may send you a copy of two or three school books. Just send me a postal 
address if you're interested and let me know whether you're interested only 
in mathematics.

I once saw an Arabic-French-English glossary of technical terms edited by a 
branch of the ALECSO located in Morocco. By the way, I once wrote (e-mail) to 
the ALECSO headquarters in Tunis asking for assistance in this matter and I 
received no reply (actually, I received one, but it was just a Sircam virus 
:). If you believe we can get something specific from them, I can pay them a 
visit, I can see their building from my window here :)

Keep up the good work,

	-Imed

PS: I'm sorry for not contributing more actively, I barely find time to read 
some digests.


On Wednesday 18 December 2002 12:24, Youcef Rabah Rahal wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> Maalam has arrived to a critical step and it became necessary to me to
> introduce this question.
>
> There is an issue about the scientific terminology between Mashriq and
> Maghrib. It seems that there are no standard notations. However I am not
> sure if it is between Maghrib and
> Mashriq or between Algeria and the rest of the arab world ;) (apart from
> the difference between the digits used !)
>
> I give one example: the "Cosine" of an angle is called "Jayb Tamam"
> everywhere in the arab world. Fortunately because it is an ancient word.
> However, the notation is "JATA" in Mashriq
> and "TAJIB" in Maghrib (or only in Algeria ?).
> One another: "Continuity" (of functions) is "ITTISSAL" in Mashriq and
> "ISTIMRAR" in Maghrib.
> There are of course a lot of such examples, I can make a list on request ;)
>
> The point is: Since Maalam is supposed to be used by all the Arab
> community, it is important to define a rule:
>
> 1- Define a standard.
> Unlikely because this should be done at a higher level. Though Arabeyes can
> emit recommendations to the Arab League for example ? But I'm not sure of
> the impact and, moreover, a first release of Maalam will be realised very
> soon.
>
> OR
>
> 2- Use both notations (the user configures the program).
>
> OR
>
> 3- Use a notation over the other.
>
> Please people I need your advice. Especially people from Maghrib to tell me
> if it is a real Maghrib-Mashriq issue or only a
> Algeria-Rest_Of_the_Arab_world one.
>
> I also can be completely wrong and maybe this is not even an issue. Maybe
> using any of the notations is quite understandable everywhere ?!
>
> Thank you,
>
> Youcef.
>
> PS: By the way, Maalam will soon change its name since the actual one is
> confusing. See this thread
> http://lists.arabeyes.org/archives/developer/2002/December/msg00100.html
>
> Your vote is welcome !
>
>
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- -- 
Imed Chihi
CTO, Opennet Software
http://www.linux.com.tn
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