How to read mathematical expressions in English

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

 

Данное пособие предназначено для студентов неязыковых вузов по специальности «Информационные технологии» для начального, условно начального и полупродолжающего уровней. Предполагается, что занятия будут проводиться как под руководством преподавателя, так и самостоятельно.

Организация учебника учитывает программу по предмету «Иностранный язык (английский)» для студентов первого курса факультета ВМК МГУ имени М.В. Ломоносова. Он включает около 3000 лексических единиц (General English и LSP), материал нормативной грамматики и разговорной речи по специальности.

Пособие состоит из 12 разделов, имеющих одинаковую структуру: текст, упражнения на отработку лексики (слов и выражений), распределенных по мере увеличения сложности. Тематика частей учитывает вводный характер курса и актуальные вопросы специальности «Информационные технологии», вызывающие интерес у обучаемых, что было апробировано в процессе подготовки книги на занятиях со студентами первого курса факультета ВМК. В конце 6 и 12 разделов даны итоговые упражнения, ориентированные на закрепление и контрольную проверку знаний в конце первого и второго семестров соответственно. В качестве справочного материала представлены список наиболее употребляемых сокращений и правила чтения математических символов и операций.

По окончании данного курса обучаемый должен обладать следующими навыками:

• читать, переводить и понимать литературу по специальности,
• знать базовые термины, слова общенаучной страты английского языка и уметь корректно их использовать,
• излагать письменно свои мысли по проблематике, затронутой в учебнике, в краткой форме,
• воспроизводить тексты и импровизировать на данные темы,
• общаться по проблематике «Информационные технологии», то есть понимать речь в естественном темпе и говорить корректно (отсутствие коммуникативных ошибок).

Авторы выражают большую благодарность за помощь в подготовке материалов пособия преподавателю кафедры английского языка факультета ВМК Л.К. Дворецкой, а также рецензентам за их ценные рекомендации. Мы надеемся, что работа с книгой будет интересна и продуктивна для приобретения навыков чтения, перевода, письма и говорения на уровне Intermediate.

 

Авторы

Оглавление

СПИСОК СОКРАЩЕНИЙ.. 6

Unit 1. COMPUTER SCIENCE. 8

Unit 2. GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER.. 17

Unit 3. DESKTOP OPERATING SYSTEMS. 29

Unit 4. MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS. 35

Unit 5. DATA STORAGE. 41

Unit 6. PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES. 46

REVISION (UNITS 1 – 6) 54

Unit 7. WORLD WIDE WEB.. 58

Unit 8. ON-LINE COMMUNICATION.. 67

Unit 9. SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES. 71

Unit 10. E-COMMERCE. 77

Unit 11. INFORMATION SECURITY.. 81

Unit 12. FUTURE TRENDS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.. 86

REVISION (Units 7 – 12) 91

REFERENCES. 94

 

СПИСОК СОКРАЩЕНИЙ

 

ab. init. – ab initio – сначала

A.D. – Anno Domini – нашей эры

A.C., AC – ante Christum – до нашей эры

a.m. – ante meridiem – до полудня (до 12 часов дня)

B.C. – before Christ – до нашей эры

сf. – confer – сравни

c/o – care of – для передачи (такому-то)

d. – denarius – п е нни

D. Eng. – Doctor of Engineering – доктор технических наук

D.P. – displaced person – перемещенное лицо

dram. pers. – dramatis personae – действующее лицо

e.g. – exempli gratia – например

esp. – especially – особенно

etc. – et cetera – и прочее, и так далее

ex. – example – пример

f. – following – следующий

gen. – general – главный, всеобщий

ib., ibid – ibidem – там же

id. – idem – то же самое

i. e. – id est – т.е., то есть

inst. – instant – сего месяца

ital. – italics – курсив

l., lat. – latitude – широта

lb. – libra – фунт

long. – longtitude – широта

mod. – moderate – умеренный

MS. / MSS. – manuscript / manuscripts – рукопись

N.B. – nota bene – нота-бене (отметка, примечание, чтобы обратить внимание)

Nb / no. (nos. pl)– number – номер; число

p. c. – per cent – процент, %

p. m. – post meridiem – пополудни, после 12 часов дня

prox. – proximo – следующего месяца

P.S. – postscript – постскриптум, приписка

p. t. o. – please tur4n over – смотри на обороте

quot. – quotation – цитата

sub. – substitute – заменитель

suppl. – supplement – приложение

u. – unified – единообразный, унифициролванный

ult. – ultimo – истекшего месяца (срока)

u. m. – undermentioned – нижеследующий

usu. – usually – обычно, обыкновенно

v. – versus – против, в сравнении

v. – vide – смотри

viz – videlicet – то есть, а именно

vs. – versus – против, в сравнении с

yld – your letter dated – Ваше письмо от (такого –то) числа

yr. – younger – младший

How to read mathematical expressions in English

Basics:

a - b – a m i nus ([m aɪ nəs]) b

a+b – a pl u s [pl ʌ s] b

a*b – a times b

a/b – a over b, a divided by b

, , … – one half, one third, one forth…

, , … – five halves, two thirds, seven tenths…

a = b – a equals b, a is equal to b

a b – a different from b, a is not equal to b

a b – a (strictly) less than b

a b – a less than or equal to b

a b – a (strictly) bigger than b, a greater than b

a b – a greater than or equal to b

1.345 – one point three four five

 

Powers and roots:

– a to the power of n, a raised to the power of n

– a squared

– a cubed

– x inversed

√x – square root of x

– n-th root of t

– cubic root of t

 

Unit 1. COMPUTER SCIENCE

 

Computer science or computing science (abbreviated CS) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation; also it is the study of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems.

Sometimes computer scientists are confused with other computer professionals having careers in information technology. Some people think that computer science relates to their own experience with computers (typically involving activities such as gaming, web-browsing, and word-processing). However, the focus of computer science is more on understanding the properties of the programs used to implement software such as games and web-browsers, and using that understanding to create new programs or improve existing ones.

The term Computer science originated in the middle of the XX-century. During the 1940s newer and more powerful computing machines were developed. The term computer came to refer to the machines rather than human beings. It became clear that computers could be used for more than just mathematical calculations. As the result the field of computer science broadened to study computation in general. Computer science began to be established as a distinct academic discipline in the 1950s and early 1960s. The world's first computer science degree program, the Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science, began at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in 1953. The first computer science degree program in the United States was formed at Purdue University in 1962.

Since practical computers became available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of study in their own right. Although many initially believed it was impossible that computers themselves could actually be a scientific field of study, in the late fifties it gradually became accepted among the greater academic population. Time has seen significant improvements in the usability and effectiveness of computer science technology. Modern society has seen a significant shift from computers being used solely by experts or professionals to a more widespread user base. Initially, computers were quite costly, and for their most-effective use, some degree of human aid was needed, in part by professional computer operators. However, as computers became widespread and far more affordable, less human assistance is needed. Nevertheless, it is still remained.

Despite its name, a significant amount of computer science does not involve the study of computers themselves. Although major universities prefer the term computing science, several alternative names have been proposed. For instance, Danish scientist Peter Naur suggested the term datalogy, to reflect the fact that the scientific discipline revolves around data and data treatment, while not necessarily involving computers. The first scientific institution to use the term was the Department of Datalogy at the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1969, with Peter Naur being the first professor in datalogy. The term is used mainly in the Scandinavian countries. Also, in the early days of computing, a number of terms for the practitioners of the field of computing were suggested in the Communications of the ACM – turingineer, turologist, flow-charts-man, applied meta-mathematician, and applied epistemologist. Later another term comptologist was suggested, followed next year by hypologist. One more term is computics. In continental Europe, terms derived from "information" and "automatic" are often used, for example, informatique (French), Informatik (German), Informatica (Spain, Italy) or informatika (Slavic languages).

As a discipline, computer science involves a range of topics from theoretical studies of algorithms. It covers the field from the limits of computation to the practical issues of implementing computing systems in hardware and software. It deals with the theory of computation, algorithms and data structures, programming methodology and languages, computer elements and architecture. In addition to these four main areas, the following fields such as software engineering, artificial intelligence, computer networking and communication, database systems, parallel computation, distributed computation, computer-human interaction, computer graphics, operating systems, and numerical and symbolic computation can be named as important areas of computer science.

Despite its short history as a formal academic discipline, computer science has made a number of fundamental contributions to science and society and has become an important field of study in the modern world.

Notes:

Communications of the ACM (CACM) – ведущий ежемесячный журнал Ассоциации вычислительной техники (Association for Computing Machinery - ACM). Издаётся с 1957 года.