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Hi Daniel,<br>
<br>
;-)) agreed, but is the word «Ring» itself in use? The same about the
English language... de.wikipedia says:<br>
<br>
«
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<span class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium;"><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Die
Namensgebung<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Ring</i><span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>bezieht sich nicht auf etwas
anschaulich Ringförmiges, sondern auf einen organisierten
Zusammenschluss von Elementen zu einem Ganzen. Diese Wortbedeutung ist
in der deutschen Sprache ansonsten weitgehend verloren gegangen. Einige
ältere<a href="/wiki/Verein" title="Verein"
style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none;">Vereinsbezeichnungen</a><span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(wie z. B.<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="/wiki/Deutscher_Ring"
title="Deutscher Ring"
style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none;">Deutscher
Ring</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
href="/wiki/Wei%C3%9Fer_Ring_e._V." title="Weißer Ring e. V."
class="mw-redirect"
style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none;">Weißer
Ring</a>) oder Ausdrücke wie „Verbrecherring“ weisen noch auf diese
Bedeutung hin. Das Konzept des Ringes geht auf<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="/wiki/Richard_Dedekind"
title="Richard Dedekind"
style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none;">Richard
Dedekind</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>zurück; die
Bezeichnung<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Ring</i><span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>wurde allerdings von<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="/wiki/David_Hilbert"
title="David Hilbert"
style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none;">David
Hilbert</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>eingeführt.</span></span>»
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringtheorie">http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringtheorie</a>)<br>
<br>
How many students are wondering confused about what is «the hollow» in
a ring every year worlwide, since Hilbert made this unreflected
wording, by just picking another term around «collection»? Although not
a mathematician, I've visited several maths lectures, for interest,
having the same problem. Then I began asking everybody I could reach --
and even maths professors could not tell me why this thing is called a
«ring».<br>
<br>
Thanks for your examples: A «gang» {of smugglers|car thieves} shows
even the original meaning -- once knowed -- does not reflect the
characteristics of the mathematical structure.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Nick<br>
<br>
Daniel Fischer wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:201002181555.37468.daniel.is.fischer@web.de"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Am Donnerstag 18 Februar 2010 14:48:08 schrieb Nick Rudnick:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">even in Germany, where the
term «ring» seems to originate from, since at least a century nowbody
has the least idea it once had an alternative meaning «gang,band,group»,
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Wrong. The term "Ring" is still in use with that meaning in composites like
Schmugglerring, Autoschieberring, ...
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
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