How to pronounce an equation in English.

April 30, 2013 8:22 PM

Please help me pronounce this formula related to projectile motion as it would be spoken out loud: L = v0^2 sin2θ / g

Please don't laugh at me for wasting a question on this.

posted by misozaki to Grab Bag (15 answers total)

Best answer: El is equal to vee nought squared times sine of two theta over gee.
posted by rancidchickn at 8:28 PM on April 30, 2013

Best answer: ell equals vee-naught-squared sine two-theta over gee
posted by secretseasons at 8:29 PM on April 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Does the equation look more like this?

L = v₀² sin 2θ / g

If so I'd pronounce it:

ell equals vee-naught squared sine two theta over gee
posted by jedicus at 8:29 PM on April 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yes, jedicus, it looks more like that, thanks.

Best answers to all, much appreciated!
posted by misozaki at 8:35 PM on April 30, 2013

Do you want to know what everything stands for? L stands for the Lagrangian (the equation of motion), v is velocity, sin is sine, θ is 'theta' (or the angle of the projectile), and g is the gravitational force.
posted by empath at 8:38 PM on April 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, empath, actually, I can understand the equation (well, the gist of it anyway) but I learned everything in Japanese, so I just needed to make sure how it would be pronounced in English. But thanks for taking the time to answer!
posted by misozaki at 8:42 PM on April 30, 2013 [2 favorites]

L isn't the Lagrangian here; a Lagrangian would have units of energy, and this L has units of length. This is the equation for the horizontal distance traveled by a projectile launched with initial velocity v_0 at an angle of θ above the horizontal, in a uniform gravitational field with acceleration g and no drag.
posted by Aquinas at 8:42 PM on April 30, 2013 [5 favorites]

The Lagrangian would have units of energy. This L has units of length. It is the range of a projectile shot on level ground at angle theta with initial velocity v_0.

on edit window: jinx
posted by secretseasons at 8:43 PM on April 30, 2013

empath: what Aquinas said, and I wouldn't call g "gravitational constant" since that's what we usually call G, more like "gravitational acceleration".
posted by themel at 8:45 PM on April 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'd probably say 'vee-naught', too, but you could also say 'vee-sub-zero' or 'vee-zero'.

(The only time I naturally use the word naught is when it's a subscript like this. (US mathematician. ))
posted by leahwrenn at 12:18 AM on May 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

For the record, it's "nought," not "naught."
posted by bricoleur at 6:00 AM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Every dictionary I consult says "naught" and "nought" are variants of one another. It's funny that we were all trying pseudo-phonetic pronunciations except none of us wrote "nawt"
posted by secretseasons at 10:43 AM on May 1, 2013

I guess I should have actually consulted a dictionary before posting that. I've always thought of "nought" as another word for zero, and "naught" as meaning nothing, as in "comes to nothing," "worthless," "pointless." But it seems I was mistaken.
posted by bricoleur at 11:02 AM on May 1, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks again for the input, everyone!
posted by misozaki at 2:21 PM on May 1, 2013

Best answer: Not to be a contrarian here, but I'd say "vee-sub-zero" over "vee nought", but I heard it both ways while pursuing my undergrad physics and math degrees. (Anecdotally speaking, the physics camp tended to say "vee-sub-zero" more while the math camp tended to say "vee nought" more. It could be a discipline thing, it could be a regional thing. Who knows?)

See also http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/34724/how-to-pronounce-n-properly.
posted by Brian Puccio at 3:46 PM on May 2, 2013