Questions tagged [science]
The use of English in science.
-1
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1answer
20 views
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 ...
0
votes
2answers
72 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
30 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 ...
-1
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1answer
40 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?
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1answer
28 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.
...
0
votes
2answers
39 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
475 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.
?
0
votes
1answer
18 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 ...
9
votes
10answers
5k 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 ...
2
votes
1answer
49 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"?
3
votes
2answers
56 views
Temperatures, plural, range
I'd like to describe measured temperature readings from a list, say 184, 185, 181, 187, as "Oil sump temperatures measured in the 180s°F during the start of the test." but I'm not sure if this is ...
5
votes
1answer
98 views
When was “off-world” / “offworld” coined?
"Offworld" meaning "not on the main, current planet" is a term in some sci-fi works, and several works have been named using it, like "Offworld Trading Company" (a video game).
The word definitely ...
0
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2answers
63 views
Translating a scientific paper from American to British
Over the last few years I have translated into English a fair amount of scientific papers for a Mexican scientist. Throughout this time, I noticed that by far the most common style requirement was ...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
What is the correct usage of the tilde symbol with negative numbers? [closed]
The tilde symbol (~) is used in academic texts in place of about or approximately.
Generally, it is placed immediately before the number (eg. AUD ~2.4 million), which works for positive numbers, ...
0
votes
2answers
98 views
What do humanitarian sciences refer to?
When to use humanitarian sciences and human sciences in contrast? According to my uni materials, humanitarian sciences should have something to do with scientific function style of texts.
0
votes
2answers
36 views
Term for “extent/proportion [into some population] of the condition”?
What is a technical term (perhaps from statistics) for the extent (or proportion) that a specified condition applies to some given population?
For example:
There is a communicable cancer currently ...
-1
votes
1answer
33 views
Term for “extent/proportion of a population [that meet some condition]”
What is a technical term (perhaps from statistics) for the extent (or proportion) that a specified condition applies to some given population?
For example:
There is a communicable cancer currently ...
2
votes
2answers
47 views
Is there a word referring to a given animal species' fear or lack thereof of humans? [closed]
Some animal species are very unafraid of humans, willing to be approached or even picked up. Dodos, famously, and I've noticed with insects as well that some want nothing to do with you whereas other ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Proper term for “converting” time domain data to frequency domain
I had difficulty deciding if this should go in stack overflow, electrical engineering or here, English language. Forgive me if it's in the wrong place.
I am looking for a word that describes the ...
1
vote
3answers
339 views
Word for: A river than splits into two, later rejoining into one? (fluvial terminology)
A tributary is river or stream that flows into a larger river.
A distributary a stream branching off a river.
Is there a word that combines both structures, the idea of a river that splits in two ...
0
votes
2answers
47 views
Capitalization of “String”
I am writing a scientific text in the area of computer science. Often, I need to refer to a certain data structure named String which refers to a sequence of characters. In most programming languages, ...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
How does one qualitatively describe the cubic increase of experimental data [duplicate]
I have generated some data Y and would like to describe its variation as a function of some variable X. Using MS Excel, I obtained the trendline shown in the figure below which suggests that Y varies ...
0
votes
5answers
131 views
Is there a single word for inference of a past state?
In many fields of science, such as population genetics or climatology, we are uncertain of past conditions but have knowledge that makes some scenarios more likely than others. We can estimate the ...
2
votes
2answers
65 views
Is it acceptable to call teachings such as “How to behave as a Muslim” a science? If not, what should we call them in English?
In the Muslim world, it is very popular to call the teachings of the religion a science. As we all know, the God and resurrection cannot be proven or rejected in a lab or through scientific methods. ...
1
vote
2answers
80 views
“Second-order approaches”. What does this mean?
I'm currently reading a scientific paper, in which the words "second-order approaches" are supposed to inform me about a certain solution to a problem. However, I don't have the slightest clue on what ...
-1
votes
1answer
23 views
What is the correct way to write out species names in a scientific paper?
For example, in the phrase
"The study organisms were adult rove beetle Atheta coriaria and adult ladybird Adalia bipunctata"
Would it be correct to write
"The study organisms were the adult rove ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
Scientific Writing: “Shall” in questions without pronouns
I have a question considering the usage of "shall" especially in scientific English.
Here is the specific case I am wondering about: I am reading a paper which contains the following questions:
...
1
vote
1answer
61 views
What is a “launder stub”?
What is the meaning here of 'launder stub' in this summary from an abstract:
The container is connected in parallel with a metal supply launder via transversal metal launder stubs respectively ...
2
votes
2answers
83 views
Word for common knowledge in a scientific setting?
I remember there being a single word to represent currently accepted facts in a scientific discipline. Common knowledge, but in a scientific setting. It is a jargon-y sounding word.
You'd use it when ...
2
votes
2answers
4k views
Alternatives for “For the sake of completeness”?
I'd like to include in a paper on mathematics the phrase:
"for the sake of completeness, we first show..."
or words to that effect. However, the word "completeness" has a precise technical ...
29
votes
7answers
6k views
Is there a single word for both “atom” and “ion”?
When I'm writing about atoms, often what I'm writing about applies to (monatomic) ions too. It's slightly annoying to add "(or ions)" after every mention of atoms, where a word that refers to both ...
0
votes
2answers
66 views
What exactly does “*popular* science” mean, and what other words are there to denote things at the boundaries of “popular science” [closed]
people often make the distinction between "popular" science, and science published in specialist journal articles. If you go to the extremes, then the distinction is clear: A documentary by David ...
2
votes
4answers
79 views
Word meaning “regularly sampled”
I'm looking for a word that indicates something has been sampled (i.e, scientifically analyzed, measured, collected, etc.) multiple times within a span of time. Specifically, I want it to reflect "...
2
votes
1answer
143 views
What is the name of the natural force which makes water go against gravity?
Earlier today someone told me about a trick of watering plants when you are traveling. Basically, next to the plant there is a bowl of water with a tube inserted into it. At the end of the tube is the ...
2
votes
6answers
201 views
What is the adjective to describe research approaches lacking theory proof?
When I write an academic paper and describe one of the previous researches, I found that the method is only based on the authors' own claims and lacks theory proof.
I am looking for a weak and ...
1
vote
4answers
168 views
I am looking for a word that can be used to describe a person who can switch bodies with another human
Not to be confused with a person who can morph themselves into someone else or a creature by will, but someone who has an ability to body swap - without necessarily having control over it. I am ...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
Scientific Writing: Acceptance of “one does”?
Essentially what the title says: Are formulations like "To determine the unknowns one employs the following conditions" acceptable for scientific writing? My professor insists that sentences like this ...
1
vote
1answer
78 views
'Average' vs 'Mean' - what's more scientifically accepted? [closed]
I'm working on a translation of a paper in portuguese to english. In this paper I work with the average of parameter, but I'm not sure if I should use the word 'average' or 'mean' (specially on ...
0
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0answers
39 views
can a figure in a paper be titled “questions respective [topic] ?”
I am currently writing a scientific paper in cooperation with multiple co-authors, some of them being more experienced than me. In a figure, questionnaire results are shown.
One of my more ...
0
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2answers
86 views
Definite article before scientific terms named after people [duplicate]
This is my first post here so I hope the format of my question is correct.
I am wondering whether it is necessary to use the definite article before physical quantities named after people, e.g.:
...
0
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2answers
63 views
are there words exist that are for foreign bodies that [closed]
So are there any words that differentiate foreign bodies in the human body that between neutral, beneficial, and disadvantageous foreign bodies.
0
votes
3answers
16k views
“We have showed that”/ “We have shown that” or “We showed that”?
In the summey of my physics paper, for a scientific journal, in the start of a new paragraph in the discussion, what is more correct to write?
"We have showed that" the system obeys this and that ...
0
votes
1answer
54 views
Present simple in the abstracts of scientific papers
Passive sentences with present simple tense are extensively used in the abstracts of scientific papers. For example, we may read
In this work, the melting point of copper is calculated with a ...
8
votes
2answers
211 views
What was the definition of “planet” like in English in the XVIII century?
I recently asked a question (in Spanish, sorry) in the Spanish Language stack about the peculiar definition that the Royal Spanish Academy included in its very first dictionary. It goes like this:
...
2
votes
3answers
58 views
Adjective for combining some lower dimensional objects to form a higher dimensional object
Are there some English words that describe the dimension of objects changed, by combining some lower dimensional objects to form a higher dimensional object. For example, from the lower dimensional ...
2
votes
1answer
234 views
Is “epidemiology” an appropriate word for the study of invasive species in an ecosystem?
I'm looking for a technical term to describe the study of infestations of invasive species. It seems that "epidemiology" is defined (by WHO) as
the study of the distribution and determinants of ...
3
votes
2answers
293 views
Term of solid phase floating on surface of liquid phase
I am looking for what to call the solid or dust particles that reside at the surface of a liquid after density separation by flotation.
I had the term supernatant in mind, but I looked it up and it ...
0
votes
1answer
97 views
Synonym for a conclusion [closed]
I'm currently writing a scientific article and thus, I need to be very careful with my English.
In this article I usually show graphics and describe them:
"Fig. X show the temperature variation..."...
3
votes
2answers
276 views
What do you call the new pattern that we perceive in the relative movement of patterned objects?
Sometimes a purely static image will appear to be moving because of some design feature.
That’s not what I’m asking about.
I’m asking about an illusion that arises only through real movement ...
0
votes
1answer
541 views
Guided rockets Vs Missiles [closed]
In the context of military weapon and ammunition, missiles are said to be guided but rockets are not. yet the latest trends of rocket says, there are rockets with guidance system, though they are ...
