Most commonly misspelled science and math words

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Commonly misspelled science and math terms are a frequent topic of discussion, with many participants sharing examples. Names like Lorentz, Planck, and Feynman often face misspellings, with variations like "Lorenz" and "Einstien" being noted. The discussion also highlights differences in spelling conventions between American and British English, such as "math" vs. "maths" and "color" vs. "colour." Misunderstandings in terminology, such as confusing units of power and energy, are also mentioned. The conversation touches on the complexities of scientific nomenclature, including the transliteration challenges of names like Chebyshev, which can have multiple accepted spellings. Participants express frustration with common errors, such as "ect." for "etc." and the misuse of terms in scientific contexts. Overall, the thread illustrates the challenges of spelling and terminology within the scientific community, emphasizing the importance of accuracy in communication.
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I'm looking for a list of commonly misspelled science and math words. What do you see often?
 
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Do you mean: except names?
 
fresh_42 said:
Do you mean: except names?
oh names would be great too!
 
Lorentz, of the Lorentz transforms, is often confused with Lorenz, of the electromagnetic Lorenz gauge condition.
 
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Likes DeBangis21, Wrichik Basu, nomadreid and 5 others
We recently had Plank.
 
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Hadron.
Which is unfortunate.
 
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Actually you could try to write a script to filter out all "spellcheckable" words out of the PF posts.
 
Einstien is fairly common. Schwarzchild, Schwarschild and Schwarzschild seem to be common mis-spellings of Schwarzschild. The number of ns at the end of Feynman's name also seems to be a topic of debate.
 
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There are some words for which what is "right" or "wrong" depends on what country you are in. For example:

U.S.
UK
notes
math​
maths
center​
centre
fiber​
fibre
meter​
metreunit of distance
(but not measuring device, always "meter")
liter​
litre
esophagus​
oesophagus
color​
colour
neighborhood​
neighbourhood
analog​
analogue
mold​
mould

But that probably wasn't what you were looking for.
 
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1667151798043.png
 
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  • #12
Astrology and cosmetology.
 
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  • #13
Bandersnatch said:
Astrology...
I had an ex who would not stop saying that. Doomed relationship.
 
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Thomson, who became Lord Kelvin is often written as Thompson.
 
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Kirchhoff. No one can spell it right, not even me, and I know I'm doing it wrong every time I type it.
 
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  • #18
Then there's my favorite: pie. (I tend to ask them if they want apple or blueberry to calculate the area of the circle.)

-Dan
 
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  • #19
Chicxulub, the impactor and loation of impact of the "dinosaur killer" meteorite.

Screenshot 2022-10-30 at 2.14.47 PM.png
 
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  • #20
Tangenital velocity.
 
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  • #21
fresh_42 said:
We recently had Plank.
I did that once. I was hoping the community had forgot.
 
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  • #22
Van der Graaff (probably)
 
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There is also the dreaded pressure guage.
 
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  • #25
Angle/angel.
 
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  • #26
DaveC426913 said:
I feel certain the the most misspelled word is "loser" but their spell checker didn't catch it.
 
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  • #27
Hornbein said:
I feel certain the the most misspelled word is "loser" but their spell checker didn't catch it.
It would be pretty funny to see the world map with LOSER emblazoned on most of the countries.
 
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  • #28
hmmm27 said:
Van der Graaff (probably)
It's actually Van de Graaff. But "Van der Graaf Generator" are an "English progressive rock band". Popular in Italy during the 1970s, apparently.
 
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  • #29
mjc123 said:
It's actually Van de Graaff.
And he was American, not Dutch. From Alabama.
 

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