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Questions tagged [science]

The use of English in science.

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When did the term "non-avian dinosaur" come in common use? [migrated]

When i first learned about the Pre-historic (mega)fauna that we now commonly call non-avian dinosaurs they where just referred to as dinosaur. I am trying to figure out when we made the collective ...
Dinomaster's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
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Can 'increase' be used to simply describe a difference in value between two groups without a temporal connotation?

I see the word 'increase' used a lot in science writing to describe a greater average value in one group compared to another. For example: There was an increase in wealth among women compared to men ...
George Savva's user avatar
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2 answers
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Possessive Contraction over Equations and Mathematical/Physics Laws

In my mother language, Spanish, when we refer to a famous equation, say those for electromagnetism, we say "Ecuaciones de Maxwell". This translates, literally, as "Equations of Maxwell&...
Vicente Sierra Rosas's user avatar
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2 answers
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Words describing an event that has an unspecified time or place

Looking for a single word derived form word like 'temporal', that would described event that has unspecified time of occurrence. First thought was 'temporamental', but looks like it's not an actual ...
Figa Rybka's user avatar
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Quotation mark use (one word) in software engineering paper

I'm currently researching the origins of a well known software engineering model - the waterfall model. The paper most cited for the model didn't invent the model, but rather said that it doesnt work ...
Son Tung Duong's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is Einstein's geodesic a metaphor or an idiom? [closed]

Is Einstein's geodesic a metaphor or an idiom? I am applying semantic theory to physical theory to bridge the two realities and have found the discussion on metaphor and odium illuminates this purpose....
Mark Hooper's user avatar
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does this sentence have too many commas? [closed]

I am currently writing my first paper in the field of computer science and having written the following sentence I wondered if there would be any missing commas "Then after a method has been ...
Frederik Hoeft's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
107 views

Opposite of invariant

I look for the opposite of "invariant" in the context of scientific language. If you look at this example sentence: [...] Although it is translationally and rotationally invariant, it is ...
mcocdawc's user avatar
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Computational complexity: how to express what the function depends on?

In computer science, algorithms are often characterized by their computational complexity — for example, a primitive sorting algorithm’s complexity may be O(n2) where n is the size of the input list. ...
Michał Kosmulski's user avatar
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3 answers
164 views

Use of "paper" / "study" / ... in scientific publications

In my research paper I used the phrase "this paper" to refer to the one I am writing and sometimes I write "the [other] paper" to refer to some other paper. The editor replaced &...
Make42's user avatar
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an atom vs the atom [duplicate]

In Britannica's Atom term, some general sentences about an atom use "an atom", and others "the atom", why? Sentences with "an atom": The behaviour of an atom is strongly ...
Ben's user avatar
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manifests or manifests itself

The sentence (from University Physics book, the image of full text is attached): The work done by nonconservative forces manifests itself as changes in the internal energy of objects. Can we delete ...
Ben's user avatar
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1 answer
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Let us suppose vs Suppose [closed]

When should we use "Let us suppose", and when "Suppose" in science academic articles? Example 1: Suppose the electric field lines in a region of space are straight lines. or ...
Ben's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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The pronunciation of sciurine (pertaining to squirrels)

I am intrigued by the pronunciation for the adjective for squirrel, "sciurine". In Wiktionary, the pronunciation in IPA is '/ˈsaɪjʊɹaɪn/' ('/ˈsʌɪjᵿrʌɪn/' in the OED online), which strikes me ...
Matteo Ferla's user avatar
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Synonym for un-scientific book by researcher

I am looking for a synonym for a kind of book/genre, that contains interesting information, but is not aimed at the scientific community, being polemical / political and not stringent enough to be ...
MNor's user avatar
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2 answers
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abbreviations for "standard deviation" when used as an informal unit

I am looking for some advice for abbreviating "standard deviation" when it is used in an informal sense as a mathematical unit, especially with regard to financial usage. This often crops up ...
Tom Weston's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Term to describe how much something has changed from its original configuration

Is there a term that describes how far removed or how many change steps are between two given states or configurations? Complexity is a term to describe that something is intricate or complicated, but ...
John Cooper's user avatar
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1 answer
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Word for a physicist studying mechanics?

For many fields there is a word for a person studying it. In math there is analyst for analysis, algebraist for algebra, and geometer for geometry. Is there an equivalent word for a physicist studying ...
Christian Doucette's user avatar
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2 answers
43 views

What does this sentence actually mean?

I have encountered this sentence in an editing assignment Many patients continue to have pain and limited function and require some other forms of treatment. I was wondering if this is equivalent to ...
Grammarist's user avatar
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2 answers
791 views

"-Based" vs. " Based"

I am in the process of finalizing an academic research paper and I am struggling to identify the correct hyphenation for the title: Option 1: Adaptive Chirplet Transform-Based Machine Learning for ...
Aman Bhargava's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
241 views

Is it redundant to say "global pandemic"? [duplicate]

It seems that the word pandemic is generally understood to refer to a large or global geographic area. Is it therefore redundant to say "global pandemic" in a sentence such as, "The ...
sffc's user avatar
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Is there any single word in English to represent domain of "logic and science" together?

Is there any single word in English to represent domain of "logic and science" together? Background Some of my friends are going to start an online movement whose main purpose would be ...
Sazzad Hissain Khan's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
349 views

Is there a word in logic, or science, that means getting the right conclusion from the wrong set of presumptions?

Is there a word in logic, or science, that means getting the right conclusion from the wrong set of presumptions? Or alternatively, something is correct, but the explanation of why is incorrect. Is ...
Eric's user avatar
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167 views

Is "get stuck" a proper term in academic writing?

I am writing to inquire the usage of "get stuck" in academic writing. Here is my draft: this design could get stuck in a bad local minima and therefore is not desired. I use Google Scholar to ...
lllllllllllll's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
245 views

Is there a word to describe a plausible but incorrect explanation? [duplicate]

I'm thinking of something where somebody (with no malicious intention) offers a very plausible and scientific-sounding explanation (not a theory but something presented as a series of facts) such that ...
user avatar
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1 answer
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Phrases for qualitative comparison

Suppose we have find a relation between two quantities X and Y. When we say "The more Y, the more X" is it implied that the relation between Y and X is linear?
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Why does the term Petri Dishes appear so regularly in political discourse nowadays?

On three occasions on Twitter and other social media platforms, the term "Petri Dishes" appears in a non-scientific context. Is this just a recent fad? It appears to be in the lexicon of many of our ...
Jeremy Jacobs's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
160 views

Word for falsely declaring something an anomaly, when it is actually typical?

Is there a term for incorrectly distinguishing something to be not part of a common category of items, saying a sub-group is too unique to be considered to be part of the larger category, even though ...
tomByrer's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
59 views

A better word/phrase to describe "a more..." in a scientific paper

I am writing a scientific paper on how a cancer staging system may be improved. However, I am a non-native English speaker, and I am concerned that my current title reflects that too much. Please, ...
cmirian's user avatar
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0 answers
151 views

Word for meaning across the solar system

Is there a single term in english that means "to cross or to traverse a solar system"? For crossing the Atlantic we have transatlantic, to cross the continent we have transcontinental and even to ...
Diesel's user avatar
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2 answers
828 views

Does "corroborate" in a scientific context imply confirmation rather "either confirmation or rejection" of findings from previous studies?

I am a non-native English speaker writing a scientific paper. I have question concerning the word corroborate. In my native language, one might say that a research project aim to corroborate ...
cmirian's user avatar
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1 answer
146 views

Should I use a hyphen in "patient tailored" vs "patient-tailored"?

Being a non-native English speaker, I was wondering which is most correct? (1) Patient-tailored staging of xx carcinoma, or (2) Patient tailored staging of xx carcinoma? It is for a scientific ...
cmirian's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
116 views

Mathematical Jargon when choosing for determinacy

What is the usual expression a mathematician uses when he has to make a choice in order limit an over-determined structure, in order to continue his argument? For instance, when a structure is over-...
superAnnoyingUser's user avatar
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50 views

Are the words bathymetry and bathymetric interchangable?

In my mind these both work... 1) I performed a bathymetry survey. I gave the client the bathymetry data. 2) I performed a bathymetric survey. I gave the client the bathymetric data. A web search ...
Justin Anning's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
64 views

How to describe factors leading to a negative event?

Being a non-native English speaker, I am looking for an appropriate verb/phrase to describe the negative event as consequence of two health factors. My best shot is "precipitate"; however, I am ...
cmirian's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
131 views

Can a model or hypothesis "assume?"

The model assumes such and such. The hypothesis assumes such and such. In scientific writing, I commonly see similar phrases indicating the construction or use of a model with an assumption. It is so ...
AimForClarity's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
343 views

What does "has been described in other work" mean in this sentence? [closed]

I'm currently reading a book about chemistry. Here is a sentence that I faced and didn't understand: This procedure has been described in other work from our laboratory I don't get what it ...
Hossci's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
2k views

Did the meaning of "significant" change in the 20th century?

In Do We Really Need the S-word? in 'American Scientist', the author Megan D. Higgs writes Did the people who introduced the word’s use in statistics intend for it to be interpreted according to ...
nalzok's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
62 views

How to avoid overusing 'the' in objective writing

I'm writing an experimental process description and I feel like i'm overusing 'the'. The plastic tube leading out the bottom of the Vayyar equipment (again the tube on the left) is fed through ...
Tasty213's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
100 views

Word for an object involved in a collision?

I want a word that is used to mean an object involved in a collision, for example, say two tennis balls collide - ball 1 and ball 2 - what would be a word that could describe either ball, only in the ...
Logan M's user avatar
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1 answer
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Should I use the formula or the name of the chemical in a sentence?

In a scientific paper, when quoting a chemical, is it more appropriate to write its formula or its name? For example: Ion exchange removed nitrate ions from solution. Or: Ion exchange removed ...
George Tian's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
279 views

When should antibody/antigen be pluralised?

I am doing my thesis corrections, and my examiner (an engineer) has different ideas about whether the word should be pluralised than those I am used to, as I am a non-biochemist, I wanted advice on ...
Abijah's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
135 views

"This/That is, " used at the beginning of a sentence to clarify a concept from the previous sentence

According to an English native speaker who works with me, the "This is" bit in the following sentence should be replaced by "That is": In fact, the feature space need not be unique. This is, for a ...
Daniel López's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
47 views

What is the meaning of the following sentence: [closed]

But why would a strong, inheritable trait that cuts fitness by half not be selected against?
Zakaria Bennane's user avatar
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1 answer
38 views

An alternative for genetive case with of in scientific writing

I am writing a scientific paper and have a following dillema between two sentences: Therefore, it is reasonable to analyze the effect of the mutual coupling in the proposed application. vs. ...
KlemenD's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
625 views

Electricity withdrawal

We commonly say "electricity consumption" for both : the electric energy actually consumed by appliances the electric energy drawn from the grid by a house, measured by a meter (what appears on your ...
Michael Técourt's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
15k views

How to abbreviate "section" and "sections" in scientific writing

What are the correct abbreviation of words "section" and "sections" in a scientific writing? Sec. and Secs. or Sect. and Sects. ?
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
161 views

Scientific way to describe "over linear growth"

I am aware that typically we use "linear" growth or "exponential" growth to describe certain trending, which seems very standard and scientific. But on the other hand, what is a proper and scientific ...
lllllllllllll's user avatar
11 votes
10 answers
6k views

Single word to replace "allowed to be missing"

I want to express my knowledge about the presence of absence of something. My knowledge is divided into three different cases: I know that the thing doesn't exist. I don't know whether the thing ...
Stefan Dollase's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
133 views

"The number of steps is infinite" or "The number of steps is infinity"? [closed]

In a mathematical paper about random-walks. Which is more correct: "The number of steps in the random-walk is infinite" or "The number of steps in the random-walk is infinity"?
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