Is math in Polish different than in English?

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Oct 5, 08, 09:09 #1

I have a new Polish girl in my class. She is intelligent and seems to be good at maths, but speaks very little English.

Could someone give me a quick idea of whether maths in Polish is different to UK maths.

I would write 3 x 2 = 6, is this the same in Polish?

I believe the word multiply is mnożyć.

Could someone also tell me about divide (dzielić) in the same way...

I would write 6 ÷ 2 = 3, how would this appear in Polish?

Thanks in advance!

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 ♂ [Moderator]	Edited by: Wroclaw Oct 5, 08, 10:00 #2
divide : 8 : 2 = 4 4 point 2 Would be 4,2 {4 comma 2}

esekThreads: 5 Posts: 269 Joined: Jun 3, 08 ♂	Oct 5, 08, 10:08 #3
math is international... hell... intergalactic universal language! :D Polish way to write this is similar... and some people would write it exactly the same as you did it. Ok, examples: 3 * 2 = 6 (but this asterisk should be a point vertically in the middle of the digit) 6 : 3 = 2

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 ♂ [Moderator]	Oct 5, 08, 10:09 #4
esek: math is international... hell... intergalactic universal language! :D The whole point is that it isn't.

bobbonThreads: 1 Posts: 5 Joined: Oct 5, 08 ♂	Oct 5, 08, 10:18 #5
Thank you - that's really helpful. Can you also help me to write 'Practise this at home - get mum and dad to help!'

SomerledThreads: 6 Posts: 106 Joined: May 31, 07 ♂	Oct 5, 08, 13:32 #6
All I know is that they use commas instead of decimal points. When I first went to the grocery I was shocked to find that bread cost 3,000 złots!

clouddancerThreads: - Posts: 25 Joined: Jun 23, 08 ♀	Oct 5, 08, 14:42 #7
bobbon: Can you also help me to write 'Practise this at home - get mum and dad to help!' "Przećwicz to w domu - niech mama i tata ci pomogą"

dcchrisThreads: 11 Posts: 687 Joined: Oct 29, 07 ♂	Oct 5, 08, 15:38 #8
well in polish they have thousand, million, milliat (sp), and then billion

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Edited by: osiol Oct 5, 08, 15:47 #9

The Arabic numerals are (sort of) the same, but Polish (and various other European) 1 can be mistaken for an English 7 which would normally have a line through it. (I've always liked putting lines through my sevens).

dcchris:

thousand, million, milliat (sp), and then billion

Polish bilion is the same as British English billion (Yankeeish trillion), not the American billion (the British half a billion / thousand million, Polish ____?) I find it exceptionally difficult to know these days, if British speakers are using our own or the American (much smaller) billion.

Correct me if I'm wrong please!

BartolomeThreads: 2 Posts: 1,345 Joined: Sep 14, 06 ♂	Edited by: Bartolome Oct 5, 08, 15:51 #10
osiol: (the British half a billion / thousand million, Polish ____?) miliard What Polish Version Of Wikipedia Says

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07 ♂	Oct 5, 08, 15:52 #11
I thought it was miliard, but I didn't want a multiple pile-up of mistakes.

ELamb	May 7, 10, 19:51 #12
Hi all I also have a Polish lady in my class to whom I am trying to teach some maths. If anybody can provide any further information on mathematical symbols it would be really helpful e.g. minus (-) addition (+) percentages (%) etc. I didn't realise that these symbols would be different so had quite a struggle in our first lesson! Thanks!!

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May 7, 10, 21:37 #13

ELamb:

If anybody can provide any further information on mathematical symbols it would be really helpful e.g.

the basics: + x - :

maths problems for kids (at least) are set out differently.

they also waste time on pointless working out.

you really need to find a Polish/Maths website to see the differences.

Please, give us an example question. Then someone can show you the Polish way to set it out and answer it.

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Edited by: frd May 7, 10, 21:55 #14

minus ('-')
plus ('+')
divide (' / ' or ' : ' )
multiply is usually just a black dot at half a height, sometimes people don't use the multiplay sign at all fi as in z = xy
cross product (' x ') - don't mistake that with multiply...
scalar product is a very small circle

I have some english math books and most of it is fairly the same, things like integrals and differentials too. If it's university math level it usually depends on the professor, some scientists have their own ways of doing things and in Poland they can decrease your marks in your tests if you use idiocrasies and semantics of their rivals.

AdamKadmonThreads: 38 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Apr 23, 10 ♂	May 7, 10, 22:31 #15
Math is the Universal Language. The only difference is the use of comma to mark the decimal units position. It has been made standard by the ISO for international blueprints. However, English-speaking countries took the comma to separate sequences of three digits and the period as the standard decimal separator. And that's the only important difference.

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May 7, 10, 22:54 #16

AdamKadmon:

The only difference is the use of comma to mark the decimal units position

How can you say that when, for example, the two posts above yours mention the division symbol.

Maths is not a universal language... as frd points out:

frd:

some scientists have their own ways of doing things and in Poland they can decrease your marks in your tests if you use idiocrasies and semantics of their rivals.

The whole reason we are discussing this is:

ELamb:

I didn't realise that these symbols would be different so had quite a struggle in our first lesson!

For someone proficient in maths the differences are not a problem. For learners, small differences draw things to a fullstop.

NomsenseThreads: - Posts: 47 Joined: Sep 20, 09 ♂	May 27, 10, 04:58 #17
Wroclaw: How can you say that when, for example, the two posts above yours mention the division symbol. ÷ is also used in Poland.

MareGaeaThreads: 45 Posts: 5,527 Joined: Feb 6, 08 ♂	May 27, 10, 07:10 #18
Oh? I thought maths were everywhere the same? >^..^< M-G (surprised)

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May 27, 10, 11:07 #19

Wroclaw:

some scientists have their own ways of doing things

When I was taught maths at University different teachers would use different symbols for the same thing. Different books use different symbols.

Engineering and science has different definitions of e, for instance, which is particularly stupid.

Infact, when you start using the Greek language in equations you are at perfect liberty to us them a you see fit - there is no real definitions of where and how they are used. The rules is, as long as the person you are talking to understands your notion, then it's fine.

math for all	Sep 21, 10, 04:29 #20
Math is not a language. Numbers are the same in any country. Number seven has a small crossing line. Polish use comma instead of point to mark the decimal units position. Other symbols are the same.

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Edited by: plk123 Sep 21, 10, 08:13 #21

bobbon:

I have a new Polish girl in my class. She is intelligent and seems to be good at maths, but speaks very little English.
Is math in Polish different than in English?

rotflmao, brit education system must be as "great" as american one is.

math for all:

Numbers are the same in any country.

you may want to check that mr math. boy, this thread sure is magnetic. lol

osiol:

The Arabic numerals are (sort of) the same,

they really aren't

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Sep 21, 10, 09:37 #22

re. billion - Brits use the US version and have done for as long as I can remember.

Punctuation is a real pain. This is a real problem if you are, for example, a German locum doctor working in the UK at the weekend. There's a massive chance of getting ten times the correct dose. I just hope Polish nurses in the UK have worked this out.

Maths is different in Polish schools. I know, my kids go to school in Poland!

Just pity my sister-in-law (a maths teacher in Poland) - she has a Jamaican in her class and communication is difficult.

zetigrekThreads: 59 Posts: 2,709 Joined: May 20, 10 ♂	Sep 21, 10, 10:38 #23
Varsovian: Maths is different in Polish schools. I know, my kids go to school in Poland! I'm curious, besides some minor differences in math signs and great number names are there any others difference? Does the school programme differ very much? Or are you tought the same thing in different way?

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07 ♂	Sep 21, 10, 10:45 #24
zetigrek: Does the school programme differ very much? Or are you tought the same thing in different way? not sure about now but my polish education was way, way more advanced then what i was "learning" under UK system and in the states.. pretty much bored out of my gourd most of the time.

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Edited by: zetigrek Sep 21, 10, 10:58 #25

plk123:

under UK system and in the states.. pretty much bored out of my gourd most of the time.

so you were living also in Britain? It seems you had really intresting life.

There was famous case about a boy who didn't want to learn in british schools claiming that kids are focused only on consumption and have no other intrests and school level is low (well, after his return he went to one of the Lodz l.o. which I know very well, and I know it doesn't have so great level...)
I don't if that case wasn't just a dailymail exaggerated sensation or it was really so horrible. I believe that in Britain there are many good schools.

I know that american school level is low indeed (or level of some schools) cause I know in person my schoolmate who emigrated to USA at age of 13 and he claimed so.

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Sep 21, 10, 13:02 #26

The real massive differences occur at age 16, where in the Polish system you compete for places in grammar school and are thrown into a highly academic atmosphere.

Amazing what you can achieve when the "real people" leave your classroom. The matura exams at age 18/19 are not up to much though. Both Platforma and PiS are hell-bent on destroying the education system. All in the hope of getting better statistics. The results are plain to see already, even at places like Warsaw University - where standards have declined according to a well-placed academic I know.

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	Sep 21, 10, 13:09 #27
Wroclaw: How can you say that when, for example, the two posts above yours mention the division symbol. The divisions symbols used by Poles are exactly the same, so yes mathematics is a universal language.

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Edited by: zetigrek Sep 21, 10, 16:32 #28

Varsovian:

The matura exams at age 18/19 are not up to much though. Both Platforma and PiS are hell-bent on destroying the education system.

100% agree! Nowa matura sucks! But it's not a fault of PiS or PO. The reform was started in 1999 when AWS was in power (Mirosław Handke the ministry of education head). In 1999 were created first classes of gimnazjum and that also make great decline of polish education. High school geaduatee could choose between Stara and Nowa Matura in 2002 as the first plans where to change matura in this very year.

Varsovian:

"real people"

by the real people you mean these people?

also agree ;)

VarsovianThreads: 91 Posts: 568 Joined: Nov 23, 06 ♂	Sep 21, 10, 17:27 #29
Everyone's child deserves to be beaten up and deprived of a real education, so they can have the privilege of meeting "real people" - as opposed to the opposite!

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Edited by: plk123 Sep 21, 10, 20:10 #30

zetigrek:

zetigrek

there are some excellent schools in the usa.. most of those are private though.. but some public schools also have good programs in them. it's just different.. the way you learn things is different. in the usa all schools work kind of like uni.. you cram one subject at a time.. at high rate.. in PL used to learn a bit of everything at a time.. building on all the subjects every year.. to some extent you have that in UK and USA too, but like i said, it's fed to you with a bigger spoon. i learned almost all the math (algebra, geometry) in polish grade school that they teach here in high school. same thing with most of sciences.. although the HS sciences were more in depth.. but by not much. i did end up graduating from a private high school here and it was, for the most part, harder (more demanding) then my education at the uni.

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