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2021: Creating the Lexicon of Future
X is for X-Factor
The X-Factor
The Letter X
The letter X stands for the unknown or the mysterious: Project X; the X-Men; the X-Files. When physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered a baffling new form of radiation in 1895, naturally he named them “X-Rays”. We absorbed these cultural connotations long before we encountered X in maths class, where we learned to solve algebraic equations for X. But why not some other letter? Why does X always stand for the unknown? ~ Why X marks the unknown
X is the Unknown
Why is it that X is the unknown? X is the unknown because you can’t say “sh” in Spanish. Full video:
X is a Designator
X is a Multiplier
“Multiplication of species [i.e. unknowns] connects both proposed magnitudes with the symbol ‘in’ or ×: or ordinarily without the symbol if the magnitudes be denoted with one letter”. ~ Wikipedia