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German/Grammar/Sentences

Sentence Structure in Main clauses
Here is the ultimate syntax guide for a main clause. German allows a considerable amount of syntactical freedom as parts of speech are indicated through case, rather than syntax. Nonetheless, there are conventions to follow, especially ones that reduce the ambiguity of pronouns.

This is the officially-sanctioned syntax of a main clause. However, German syntax is not written in stone. One has considerable latitude in the way one constructs one's sentence. Before fleshing out the topic, here are some rules, conventions, and words of advice:

1) In terms of being placed in proper syntax, the pronouns are the most important, for they are the ones most liable to ambiguity ("sie" = which person, what part of speech, which case? Put it in its correct position).

2) It is not possible for a sentence to include all of the listed items, but it is still good to be able to reproduce that schema from memory.

3) You must be able to recognize an element of a sentence. For example, you must not split something like, "mit einem Buch", for that is a prepositional phrase, i.e., one and only one sentence element.  Many other sentence elements are, however, only one word.  You get a lot better at this as time goes on.

4) Two good mnemonics. Number one: pronouns before nouns.  always.  even if it feels weird to put both your accusative and dative objects before your subject (a noun), you must get used to it.  It doesn't happen very often, though.

5) The second one is "ADDA" (i.e., NOT DAAD, the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst). ADDA describes, first, the pronouns (Accusative, then Dative), and then the nouns (Dative, then Accusative).  ADDA.  think ABBA, but with D's instead of B's.

6) The first position is usually your subject, but can also draw attention to something you want to discuss.

7) As will be explained below, prepositional phrases and adverbs follow the "Time, Manner, Place" format.

8) Beyond reducing/eliminating ambiguity, you actually do have a fair amount of freedom. "Time, Manner, Place" is more a suggestion than a commandment, and most German textbooks tell you to learn the schema laid out above, but then to speak and write your sentences with items in ascending order of importance.  Put the important stuff at the end.  Then you get to your verb, which gives all of the words in the sentence meaning, resulting in a crescendo of emotion and understanding.  Or not.  But you see how that might work.

9) If you speak enough, your verbs start going to the right places. It will seem perfectly natural that the verb is in the second position, and that the other verbs are at the end.  Getting used to subordinate clauses takes more time, but eventually your words go to the right place.  Don't worry about making mistakes, but also try not to forget which verb you have waiting in your head until the sentence ends.

10) Banish the terms, "subject", "direct object", and "indirect object" from your head. Get used to explaining things in terms of "nominative", "accusative", "dative", and "genitive".  Same goes for "linking-" and "helping-verbs".  Start talking about modal verbs, and modal-like verbs.

In general, you have to learn how to talk about grammar to be able to study German successfully.

11) If you can do the declensions in your head, you can do the syntax in your head. Syntax is easier.

Clauses with one verb part - Sätze mit nur einem Verbteil
In a main clause (Hauptsatz), the conjugated verb is in second position.

Second position does not equal second word, as you can see above. However, there is only one group of words allowed before the conjugated verb. Such groups of words are called "phrases". While you can put very long phrases in front of the conjugated verb you mustn't use two. Therefore the sentence "Heute Abend ich fahre mit dem Auto nach Köln" is wrong. This is a big difference between English and German syntax.

Clauses with two verb parts - Sätze mit zwei Verbteilen
Sometimes you have to use more than one verb part in a clause. This is true for Perfekt forms, separable verbs, modals etc. Only one of these verbs is conjugated. The conjugated verb stays in second position, the other part goes to the end.

Clauses with three verb parts - Sätze mit drei Verbteilen
Sometimes there are even three verbs in a sentence. These usually involve modals and perfect tenses. The conjugated verb is in the second position. The remaining two verbs are at the end of the clause, building inwards that is to mean, what would be the second verb in English is placed at the end, and what would be the third verb is placed before the second verb.

Order of phrases - Reihenfolge der Satzglieder
In English, you need the position of phrases to determine whether a noun phrase is a subject or an object. In German the cases tell you which role is assigned to a certain noun phrase. Therefore, the word order is less strict.

First Position - erste Position
In neutral sentences the subject is most likely in the first position (Examples 1, 4, 5, 6).

However, you can put everything there you want to stress. This is very common with phrases about time or place (Examples 2, 3, 7). English speakers need to remember that the first position is restricted to exactly one phrase.

You can even put objects in first position (Example 8). You do it mostly, if you want to emphasize the object or if you have to repeat the sentence because your partner has not understood this particular part of it.

If the subject is not in first position, it goes directly after the conjugated verb (Examples 2, 3, 7, 8), unless preceded by a reflexive pronoun or an accusative or dative pronoun.

Introduction
In the middle of the sentence – the part between the two parts of the verb – word order is quite flexible.

Often the word order for a neutral sentence can be described like this:
 * 1) Time
 * 2) Objects
 * 3) Manner
 * 4) Place

The mnemonic is "STOMP" where S is for subject. However, when looking at wild German sentences you will find structures that do not follow these principles but are nonetheless correct. This is very frequent in spoken language. Mostly the deviation from the neutral structure is caused by a special focus. While they are not wrong, it would be inappropriate to use them all the time. Therefore it is best to learn the principles described here. If you have mastered them and can use them without thinking about it, you can try some of the deviations.

Time
Time seems to be a very important concept for German speaking people. It is mostly mentioned very early in the sentence, either at the very beginning in the first position which means that the subject goes directly after the conjugated verb (i.e.: Gestern war ich im Kino) or early in the middle field (i.e.: Ich war gestern im Kino). The sentence "Ich war im Kino gestern" is not exactly wrong, but it would sound weird in most situations. It could be used though in a casual conversation when putting special emphasis on "im Kino", but it's not the regular sentence pattern.

Order of Objects
The order of objects is different for nouns and pronouns. Pronouns always come before nouns, and reflexive pronouns come before everything except nominative pronouns. ADDA, mentioned above, is a good way to remember the prescribed order of cases for pronouns and then nouns. As sentences can contain only two objects, here are the three possible combinations deriving from ADDA:

Two pronouns: accusative before dative (AD) I  II    Acc. Dat. Ich habe sie  ihm  gegeben. Ich gab  sie  ihm.

One noun, one pronoun: The pronoun goes first, regardless of the case I  II    Pronoun  Noun Ich habe ihm      die Kleider gegeben. Ich gab  sie      dem Jungen.

Two nouns: dative before accusative (DA) I  II    Dat. Acc. Ich habe dem Jungen     die Kleider gegeben. Ich gab  dem Jungen     die Kleider.

Manner
This includes adverbs and prepositional phrases describing how, why, and by what methods the event of the sentence has taken place.

Place
This includes adverbs and prepositional phrases describing location and direction

Satzglieder im Nachfeld
In German grammar the term Nachfeld is used to describe parts of the sentence that come after the second part of the verb. The Nachfeld is neglected in most learner's grammars. It is mostly used in spoken language, when people add something to a sentence as an afterthought or with special emphasis. In written language it is important for comparisons. You put them almost exclusively in the nachfeld. Consider the example Peter verdient mehr Geld als Paul' (Peter earns more money than Paul). Now try to convert the sentence to the perfect. If you follow the normal sentence structure rules you would have to write: Peter hat mehr Geld als Paul verdient, but this is almost never done. The sentence best accepted by a majority of German speakers is: Peter hat mehr Geld verdient als Paul. The comparison is put after the past participle.

Note that the two items being compared must be in the same case. Du verdienst mehr Geld als ich. This is also correct grammar in English, though it is now almost obsolete among native English speakers.

Syntax of Interrogatives and Imperatives
I am putting this up here for the sake of completion.

Interrogatives
Interrogatives (questions) change word order in the first two fields or so. There are two kinds. In a question based on a verb, the conjugated verb comes first. Following that is the same string of pronouns first and nouns thereafter (and other sentence elements and finally the remaining verbs) that was detailed above. The main difference between questions and statements is that the freedom of the first position is eliminated; the item you wanted to emphasize must now find a different position in the sentence. The ascending-order-of-importance convention still holds.

Example:

Q: Hast du schon "Fargo" gesehen? A: "Fargo" habe ich noch nicht gesehen.

The second kind of question involves a question word or wo-compound, which always comes at the beginning, and is immediately followed by the conjugated verb. They are then followed by the remaining parts of the sentence in the order outlined above. Be mindful of the case of the question word, and make sure never to use a wo-compound when referring to a person.

Q: Warum hast du "Fargo" nie gesehen? (Why have you never seen "Fargo"?) A: Ich hatte keine Lust. (I had no interest.)

Q: Wem hast du geholfen? (Wem = "whom?" in the dative case.) (Whom have you helped?) A: Ich habe meiner Mutter geholfen. (I have helped my mother.)

Q: Bei wem hast du dich beworben? (From whom have you applied [for a job]?) A: Beim Geschäft meines Onkels habe ich mich beworben. (I applied at my uncle's business.)

Q: Worum hast du dich beworben? (For what did you apply?) A: Um eine Stelle habe ich mich beworben! Bist du verrückt? (I applied for a job!  Are you insane?)

And so on.

Imperatives
Imperatives (commands) also slightly alter the aforementioned main-clause sentence structure. Imperatives are formed in several ways:

Geh', bitte! (Please go, informal) Gehen Sie, bitte! (Please go, formal) Gehen wir, bitte! (Let's go! Within a group)

This sequence - verb in imperative form, perhaps followed by the person to whom it is directed in the nominative case (depending on the kind of imperative used, however) - is then followed by all of the other elements of the sentence, in the aforementioned order.

German-speakers, like English-speakers and the speakers of many other languages, consider the use of the imperative mood to be rude, and, as in English, use a conditional or subjunctive construction to convey requests. This will be dealt with in a different section of this book.

Both of these syntaxes are very easy to master once you understand main-clause syntax.

Coordinating Conjunctions
Before moving on to subordinate and relative clauses, we must address coordinating conjunctions and parallel clauses. A coordinating conjunction is a conjunction that connects two clauses that are able to stand alone, i.e., two main clauses.

Here are some examples in English:

I am here and I am glad to see you. You are grateful for this job, or you are a spoiled brat.

Commas are generally optional in English, whereas they used more often in German.

Here are the common coordinating conjunctions one would find in German:

German  English

aber    but, nevertheless, however denn    for, because (rarely used in spoken German; not to be confused with weil) oder    or  sondern  but rather und     and

As coordinating conjunctions connect two independent clauses, they do not affect word-order in the two clauses. The first clause is often separated from the second with a comma - especially if it is a long or complicated clause - after which follows the coordinating conjunction and the second clause.

Here are some examples in German:

Ich hasse und ich liebe, und ich weiß nicht warum. (Odi et amo - Catullus) Ich bin nicht jung, aber ich bin froh.

There are two more constructions to be aware of: entweder/oder and weder/noch, which correspond to "either/or" and "neither/nor", respectively.

Entweder bist du mit uns gemeinsam, oder du bist unser Feind.

Entweder/oder and weder/noch can also be employed to contrast two items as well as clauses. Note how "entweder" functions as an adverb.

English speakers should take note of the difference between aber and sondern, both of which can be translated directly as "but". Aber means "however". Sondern means "rather". Many other languages make this distinction.

Coordinating conjunctions are rather straightforward, and the number of coordinating conjunctions is few.

Introduction
Subordinate and relative clauses introduce information regarding the main clause that needs to be expressed as a separate clause. They are collectively called "dependent clauses" because they are unable to stand by themselves as independent clauses. Usually, subordinate and relative clauses occupy a part of the main clause that was not fully explained; subordinate clauses tend to fulfill more abstract missing sentence elements than relative clauses do. Here are a few examples in English:

Subordinate Clauses:

I know that you are unhappy. We came because it was your birthday. We came because we knew that you were having a rough time.

This last example has two subordinate clauses: because we knew and that you were having a rough time.

Subordinate clauses are usually set off by a subordinating conjunction, such as that, because, when, if, and so on. In English, it is sometimes possible to omit the subordinating conjunction, specifically that, resulting in sentences such as, "I know you are unhappy," which is perfectly acceptable in English. Such an option does not exist in German.

Relative Clauses:

I know the person to whom you were talking (who you were talking to). God helps those who help themselves. You are the person that got hit by the fly-ball at the game on Saturday.

Relative clauses relate one element of a clause to another clause by way of a relative pronoun. The system of relative pronouns in German is considerably more extensive than that of English.

In German, both subordinate clauses and relative clauses affect syntax, in most cases by moving the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. Both subordinate clauses and relative clauses are set off by a comma in German, which can frequently be omitted in English. We should now examine the two types of clauses in greater detail, and then return to their syntax.

Subordinate Clauses
Subordinate clauses are always set off by a comma, and begin with a subordinating conjunction. Here is a list of all subordinating conjunctions in German. Note how all of them answer a question presumably introduced in the main clause:

Furthermore, all interrogative (question) words, such as wie, wann, wer, and wo, and wo-compounds, may be used as subordinating conjunctions. For example:

Ich weiß nicht, wohin er gegangen ist. (I don't know where he went.) Ich weiß nicht, wie das Fest sich entwickelt hat. (I don't know how the party turned out) Ich weiß nicht, warum er dir so böse ist. (I don't know why he is so mad at you.)

Subordinate clauses provide information missing in the main clause. Consider the previous two examples. In both cases, the subordinate clause answered the question, "what?", or what would have been the accusitive object. Other subordinate clauses provide information that would otherwise have been provided by one of the several parts of speech.

Er hat mich geschlagen, als meine Frau im Klo war. (He hit me when my wife was in the bathroom.)

In this example, the subordinate clause, set off by the conjunction, "als", answers the question, "when?", which would otherwise be answered adverbially.

The syntax regarding subordinate clauses will be discussed later. At this point, a property of subordinate clauses that is not altogether shared with relative clauses should be pointed out. Subordinate clauses are themselves parts of speech for the main clause, and to a limited extent can be treated as such. Consider the following two sentences, which are equivalent:

Ich darf in Kanada bleiben, solange wir noch verheiratet sind. Solange wir noch verheiratet sind, darf ich in Kanada bleiben.

Note how, in the second sentence, the subordinate clause occupied the first position, immediately followed by the conjugated verb. In reality, the use of subordinate clauses as parts of speech integrated into the main clause is limited; they are, for aesthetic reasons, restricted to the first position and to following the main clause. At both times they are set off from the main clause by a comma.

Indem..., ist x passiert. This subordinating conjunction accomplishes the same functions as the English construction, "by [do]ing something..., x happened."

Indem er die Tür offen gelassen hat, hat er auch die Räuber ins Haus eingelassen. By leaving the door open, he let the robbers into the house.

By requiring a subject in the clause, the German construction is less susceptible to ambiguity than English is; consider the sentence, "by leaving the door open, the robbers were able to enter the house," which is lacking an agent for the door being left open, even though such a construction is common in spoken English.

This section must make note of the differences between the words, als, wenn, and wann, all of which can mean "when" in English.

Als refers to a single event or condition in the past, usually expressed using the preterite tense.

Als du mich anriefst, war ich noch nicht zu Hause. (When you called me, I was not yet home.)

Wann is the interrogative word for "when". It's use as a subordinating conjunction is limited to indirect questions and immediate temporal events.

Ich weiß nicht, wann er nach Hause kommen wird.

Wenn is the most versatile of the three, and has several other meanings beyond its temporal meaning. In the temporal space wenn describes, events are less recognized, or focuses on a condition, rather than an event.

Finally, "wenn" has one other principal function. It also means, "if", and is used in conditional and subjunctive statements.

Wenn ich einmal reich wär', ... (If i were ever rich...)

We will return to syntax later.

Relative Clauses
In many ways, a relative clause is a lengthy description of an item in the main clause. Minimally, a relative clause takes a part of speech from the main clause, known as the antecedent and uses it in the dependent clause. What connects the two is a relative pronoun. As should already be published in this book, the following declension table is provided:

Relative pronouns are similar to the definite article, with the exceptions of the dative plural and the genitive case being marked in bold.

Note that the distinctions between "that" and "which"; and "that" and "who" in English do not exist in German, where everything is described with a standard set of relative pronouns with no regard to how integral the qualities described in the relative clause are to the antecedent.

As relative clauses take one item from the main clause and use it in some way in a dependent clause, it is important to consider how relative pronouns work to avoid confusion. All words in German possess gender, number (singular or plural), and case. The main clause, as it relates to the antecedent, determines the gender and number of the relative pronoun; the relative clause determines its case.

In order to use relative clauses successfully, it is critical that this point be understood. Gender and number are "inherent" to the antecedent; no grammatical agent could conceivably change those properties. The relative pronoun's case is determined by its role in the relative clause, i.e., how it relates to the other parts of speech in the clause. Consider the following examples, all based on "the man", who is masculine and singular, and apparently not well-liked.

In each of these examples, the gender and number of the relative pronoun were determined by the antecedent, while the case of the relative pronoun was determined by its role in the relative clause. Note particularly the genitive example, wherein the relative pronoun, meaning whose, modified a feminine noun, without his gender being affected.

Whenever you construct a relative clause, be mindful of this rule. Don't confuse yourself with its complexity, especially regarding the genitive case. As discussed in the chapter on personal pronouns, the word "whose", as well as other possessive pronouns such as "my", "your", and so forth, is a pronoun and not an adjective. The pronoun always expresses the characteristics of its antecedent, viz., gender and number.

Relative pronouns offered within prepositional phrases are perfectly acceptable:

Der Mann, mit dem meine Mutter wieder gestritten hat, ... The man, with whom my mother argued again, ...

However, if the antecedent is not a person, and the relative pronoun falls within a prepositional phrase, a wo-compound is frequently substituted:

Das Flugzeug, worin ich nach Seattle geflogen bin, war fast kaputt. The airplane, in which I flew to Seattle, was almost broken.

Relative clauses almost invariably follow the item that they are modifying or the main clause as a whole (with the gender and number of the relative pronoun indicating - to some extent - which potential antecedent it is referring to). Very rarely do they precede the main clause. Exceptions to this come in the form of aphorisms and proverbs:

Der (oder Wer) heute abend ruhig einschläft, bekommt morgen Eiskrem und Keks. (He who goes to bed quietly tonight will get ice-cream and cookies tomorrow - something a mother might say to her children.)

This usage is relatively unimportant.

One final property of relative clauses should be discussed. Relative clauses in some way describe their antecedent. The rules governing attributes in German are considerably more flexible than in English, because the German case system reduces ambiguity. This allows the German speaker to turn a relative clause into an extended attribute, which is essentially a long adjective. Compare the following two sentences, which are equivalent:

Der Mann, der jede Woche auf Dienstreise nach Seattle fährt, ist krank. The man, who drives to Seattle every week on business, is sick.

Der jede Woche nach Seattle auf Dienstreise fahrende Mann ist krank. The to-Seattle-every-week-on-business driving man is sick.

Such a construction is ludicrous in English, but not-uncommon in German. The experienced reader of German will, with practice, be able to read through such an item without difficulty.

It would be best to review what we have learned about subordinate and relative pronouns before discussing their syntax. Dependent clauses - both subordinating and relative clauses - modify or in some other way describe the antecedent clause upon which they are based. Subordinating clauses provide a variety of ways in which new information can relate to the main clause, many of which are adverbial in nature (e.g., "weil/because", but not "dass/that", which, in the examples above, replaced the accusitive object). Relative clauses modify and describe entities already mentioned in the main clause. Generally speaking, only subordinate clauses have the ability to occupy the first position in a main clause.

Format:

Main clause, subordinating conjunction + subordinate clause. Subordinating conjunction + subordinate clause, conjugated verb + main clause.

Main clause including antecedent, relative pronoun based on antecedent + relative clause.

Syntax of Dependent Clauses
Subordinate and relative clauses have similar syntax. Indeed, neglecting the verbs, they have a syntax similar to main clauses. Recall the syntax described at the beginning of this chapter. That syntax will form the basis of the Mittelfeld in dependent clauses.

Once again, no dependent clause will contain each of these elements. But understanding the position of pronouns is critical. The same conventions listed under the main clause schema apply.

Verbs in Dependent Clauses
The way the verbs are arranged depends on the number of verbs in the verb-phrase, and the presence of a modal verb.

Dependent Clauses with One Verb

This is the simplest case. Such a clause has one verb, conjugated based on the person and number of the subject of the sentence. This conjugated verb is placed at the end of the clause.

Dependent Clauses with Two Verbs

A clause with two verbs has one conjugated verb and one verb in the infinitive. Such examples are clauses in a perfect tense (wherein the conjugated verb is the auxiliary verb, either "haben" or "sein"), the future tense ("werden"), ones with modal verbs, and ones with modal-like verbs (sehen, hören, helfen, lassen).

In a main clause, the conjugated verb will be in the second position, and the infinitive verb will be at the end of the clause.

In a dependent clause, both verbs will be at the end of the clause, with the conjugated verb last. This supports the principle of "building inwards".

Dependent Clauses with Three Verbs

Sentences with three verbs typically involve a modal verb, whose presence complicates matters terribly. Let us think of some examples in English.

1) I am not able to help you move your car. - können - helfen - bewegen

2) I will be able to go to the store with you. - werden - können - gehen

3) I have not been able to afford that. (haben + "sich (dat) etw. leisten können" = to be able to afford sth.)

4) I have not been able to reach you over the phone. - haben - können - erreichen

And so on. The problem is, after you've learned how to put your verb at the end of the sentence in a main clause, and after you've learned how to "build inwards" in dependent clauses, and after you've pulled your hair out, night after night, sitting in a cafe in Seattle declining relative pronouns, German grammar throws yet another rule at you, this one so pointless and downright counter-productive, and it seems like German grammar is simply making fun of you at this point, that you leap out of your seat, scream "woo hoo!", and then get back to work.

The modal verb (or the modal-like verb) has to be at the end of the verb phrase, regardless of whether it has been conjugated. In cases where it has not, the conjugated verb moves to the beginning of the verb phrase. Let's look at our examples above.

Du weißt, dass...

1) ...ich dir dein Auto nicht bewegen helfen kann. This one is straightforward, because the modal verb is the conjugated verb, allowing the clause to follow the "build inwards" principle.

2) ...ich zum Markt mit dir nicht werde gehen können. The modal verb must come last.  No semantic or logical reason for this.

3) ...ich mir das nicht habe leisten können. The modal verb must come last.  Note here that the modal verb does not form a past participle when it has main verb to modify.

4) ...ich dich am Telefon nicht habe erreichen können. Note the somewhat sensible placement of "nicht".

And so...

Infinitive Clauses
The reader is already familiar with several types of German verbs that require other verbs; these verbs are modal verbs (können, dürfen, wollen, etc.); modal-like verbs (sehen, hören, helfen, lassen); auxiliary verbs (sein, haben), used for the perfect tenses; and werden, used for future and passive constructions. Another verb that can take another verb without forming an infinitive clause is bleiben (e.g., stehenbleiben, to remain standing). These verbs never form infinitive clauses, and the verbs that are used with them go at the end of the sentence.

Infinitive clauses are another kind of clause found in German, and are equivalent to infinitive clauses in English. Consider the following examples in English:

I am here (in order) to help you clean your house. The car is ready to be driven. I work to be able to afford my car.

Infinitive clauses are formed after verbs that do not regularly take other verbs. They indicate purpose, intent, and meaning of the action in the main clause. As such, infinitive clauses have no subject, or no nouns in the nominative case. Here are the above examples in German:

Ich bin hier, um dir dein Haus putzen zu helfen. Das Auto ist bereit, gefahren zu werden. Ich arbeite, um mir ein Auto leisten zu können.

Infinitive clauses are usually found after a main clause, though it is possible for them to occupy the first position of a main clause. They are always set off by a comma.

Of particular interest is the construction, "um...zu..."", which corresponds to the English construction, "in order to...". Um is placed at the beginning of the clause, after which follows a standard infinitive clause.  Whereas "in order" is frequently omitted from English infinitive clauses of this sort, "um" is always included such clauses in German.

The Mittelfeld follows the standard syntax of main clauses, though without nominative nouns and pronouns. At any rate, infinitive tend to be rather short.

Verbs (in the infinitive form) always come at the end, immediately preceded by the word zu. In the case of separable-prefix verbs, such a verb is written as one word, with the word zu between the prefix and the main verb; e.g. anzuschlagen, auszugehen, abzunehmen, and so forth.

The syntax of infinitive clauses can thus be summarized as follows:

Alemão/Gramática/Sentenças

title: German/Grammar/Sentences


text:
Talk:IB English/Commentary

Please doublecheck spelling/grammar before submitting next time!
I am also unsure of/confused as to the use of "metrosexual" in the following sentence: "This guide aims to change you from the useless waste of unpoetic space there is into a metrosexual lover of Byron and Keats!" (While I understand the somewhat humourous intent, does the sentence make any sense?) 64.229.224.182 03:18, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I am further curious as to the author's original intent- is there supposed to be a Step 4? And if so, why has it been left out? 64.229.224.182 03:22, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

To answer both, metrosexual has been removed, and the missing Step 4 appears to be a minor error, which has been fixed. If the original author and/or someone else feels something is missing, feel free to add it in. Akademix 21:23, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Meter needs clarification
The author says the poem has "hectameter", which means 7 feet. However, each line of the poem has 8 syllables. For the poem to have hectameter it would have to have more syllables per line, wouldn't it? Can someone please clarify this?

As you may/may not have noticed, the use of "dactylic hectameter" was a mere example for scansion, and precedes the poem by a section or two. Additionally, dactylic infers epic poetry, which Wordsmith did not write. You are correct, the poem is 8 syllables (iambic octameter), but the use of "dactylic hectameter" is not in reference to the poem. Akademix 21:09 08 May 2007 (UTC)

Please Discuss Changes Before Making Them
An unknown recently made a plethora of edits, not necessarily bad, but some of them were arguable. I reverted the ones I am certain of, such as the use of narrator versus speaker, the latter being the preferred one in IB papers, mainly because a narrator refers to a storyteller, and quite often the texts are not stories. The unknown also changed Step 4 to Step 5, without creating a new Step 4, so I reverted it. Also made several grammar edits. A change was also made to the title of Wordsworth's 1804 poem, as it is chiefly in anthologies that it appears as "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud", with the original title being "The Daffodils". Akademix 20:18, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Prose
Great! so we have something on poetry, what about prose now???

Structure
Ok, I edited the structuring of the essay bit. I put down a better structure layout as an alternative to the less useful original. - Frenziedst00ge

Thanks!
Just wanted to give my sincere thanks to those who kindly took the time to write this. It was a really useful read to me, since I have just begun learning Poetry Commentary (and to be honest, was struggling, despite being rather good in other areas of English) and I am extremely grateful indeed! Thank you!

Step 1: Reading the Poem, issue surrounding usage of the word "context".
In "step 1: reading the poem" we are instructed to "...take notes about the literal and figurative context of the poem...". What exactly is meant by this sentence? When i subsequently googled "Literal and figurative context" i found a wikipedia article named Literal and Figurative Language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literal_and_figurative_language) outlining a method of analysis for language. This article explains how to distinguish between the usage of literal and figurative language. So my question is ultimately: By "...literal and figurative context..." do you actually mean "Literal and figurative language"?

Thank you

harrisonjagoward@gmail.com

217.211.179.32 (discuss) 13:37, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

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title: Talk:IB English/Commentary


text:
Wikibooks talk:Departments

 * Please help categorize and catalog books. Subject pages and the Subject: namespace are part of an ongoing effort to improve Wikibooks.

Bookshelves and departments are expected to disappear once most books can be found on subject pages. Bookshelves were historically used to list books. Bookshelves used to be in the main namespace before being moved to the Wikibooks namespace. New book suggestions once included on bookshelves were moved to Requested books, and used in every section of every bookshelf in order to help encourage people to add their requests there instead. Departments would be created to better keep bookshelves organized. Questions were asked, such as "What is the difference between departments and bookshelves?", "What are the differences between bookshelves and categories?", and "Is this really the best way to list books?". These sort of questions led to the creation of the Subject: namespace and to the proposal that bookshelves and departments be done away with.

Add an interwiki
Hello, could a sysop add the interwiki to the french index ? fr:Wikilivres:Tous les livres Kind regards. J.M. Tavernier 20:03, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Done : ) --Az1568(Talk) 00:56, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Bookshelf to subject discussion
I'm curious to know where the discussion that decided to transition bookshelves to subjects took place? I'm was curious to peek at the archive. -- Beland (discuss • contribs) 00:39, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

 * Found a chronology at Wikibooks Stacks/History. -- Beland (discuss • contribs) 01:35, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Wikibooks talk:Departments


text:
Cricket

Cricket is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players on each side. It is a bat-and-ball game. Cricket is played between two teams of 11 players each on a field around 120 yards by 180 yards oval. One team bats while the other fields and bowls at any given time during a match. The batting team gets to place two players in the middle to score runs for the team while the fielding or bowling team tries to get the "wickets" by getting the batsmen out.

The main implements of the game are a wooden bat for the batting player(s) and a leather ball for the fielding players. Both sides get to bat at least once during a game. There are a lot of exceptions but the major rule of thumb is the team batting second has to score the same or more runs than the "target", which is the first team's score plus one most of the time.

There are One Day international matches, other Limited Over matches and Test matches that are played at different times of the year.

Table of Contents

 * /Players/
 * /Equipment/
 * /Clothing/
 * /Game types/
 * /Rules/
 * /Scoring/
 * /Competitions/
 * /Glossary/

ਕਰਿਕਟ

title: Cricket


text:
User:Chili Peppers

Hello lovely people of Wiki,

I've taken it upon myself as a bit of a hobby to sort out the RuneScape Wikibook, especially the member's section. I play as the character Assassin 696. If you have any queries about the content i've added feel free to PM me in game.

Cheers,

Chili

title: User:Chili Peppers


text:
User:Lgriot

I am just a French Londoner that enjoys reading the wikipedia and sometimes writing in it.

I have started a new book about learning the Kapampangan language, and guess how it is called? Kapampangan!

If you are a speaker of the Kapampagan language, do not hesitate to help out.

A few boxes? Well they don't work well from wikibook so I recommend that you have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lgriot if you want to know me.

title: User:Lgriot


text:
User talk:Lgriot

Don't hesitate to talk to me here if you want to. Lag 10:32, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Kapampangan
I used my bot to categorize all the pages in your book today. I did this on request from User:SBJohnny, who asked that I categorize them to keep the book organized. Let me know if it turned out alright, and definately tell me if I made some kind of mistake. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 19:48, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Moving things to commons
It's definitely nicer to have things there than here, but next time please use either or  if it has the same pagename on commons. We need to make sure the commons page is there and that all links are updated before we can delete :). -- SB_Johnny | talk 23:30, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Muggles' Guide map of schools
I don't mean to nag, but... could you put that map back up there? It does look like we are all in favour. If you can handle the map part, and don't feel like putting up the explanation, I can do that part... Chazz (talk) 19:40, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Lgriot


text:
User talk:Kellen

Motor paced track cycling
i'm not super sure how it works myself because i'm more familiar with keirin than six day racing. first, in the kierin it is basically just a few laps where i think 6 riders are paced (fairly slowly) by one motorbike for the first couple, then the motorbike pulls off and everybody sprints like crazy for the last 2 or 3.

for six day, each person has their own pacer. and i imagine that the pacer and rider have to be fairly well in tune so they can go as fast as possible without the rider getting dropped by the pacer. what makes it really exciting is the speeds that they can go at because of the slipstream effect. i think they can average 30-40 miles an hour for quite a distance, i read upto 50 mph somewhere! Will.law 15:55, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Cookbookwiki
I looked over the site. It seems pretty, I kinda like the layout. They've given themselves a larger scope than we have with the Cookbook, including bios of famous chefs, food festivals, food columns, and interviews with contributors. It actually seems like a fairly well done idea.

They're using some Wikibooks and Wikipedia content without proper attribution. I've left a comment at one of their talk pages, and should probibly look back for a reply. It looks like everything they're posting right now is in the public domain, which again causes problems, as Wikimedia content is not public domain, and others may reuse the content from their site and not know they're infringing on our contributors' copyright rites.

I'll look around a few times, just to see what's going on, and how they're progressing. Thanks for letting me know about the site. Gentgeen 23:42, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

3RR
Hi

Listen, the 3RR states " The policy states that an editor must not perform more than three reversions, in whole or in part, on a single Wikipedia article within a 24 hour period." So don't misquote it. So what if 2 contributors disagree, that leaves just over 6 Billion people that dont, and those two will give up and move on to something else sometime soon.

A link to a breakfast talk radio show hardly meets Wiki standards ! You have to be joking...

Whilsts neither you nor I are likely to agree with the website owner, he is a qualified medical professional and the vegan child abuse trial is referenced in far better detail than elsewhere. And being " horrible " in the opinion of one contributor - no one or everyone is an editor here - hardly constitutes academic reason. I would say that immediately undercuts their credibility.

And for the record, I have been a vegan for over 20 years known to executive members of the Vegan Society. I am just not a wussy vegan afraid to face the ugly truths and often stupidities of our peers. The best PR is honesty and bravery to face what is not attractive.

195.82.106.244 21:39, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Season Categories
Hi, I saw you added a supercategory for the season categories and a tag to the category pages. Great work, but shouldn't that template be or something for ingredients? Now they're showing up in the recipe listing, and they're not really recipes. risk 23:40, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

category
Can you move it? I can't find the "move" link that's supposed to be there. Ants Go Marching 16:33, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

pipe
Ok, I thought maybe I was misremembering. Do you know how to move the category? Ants Go Marching 02:59, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

DRAAAAMAA
yep, that's for sure. 1998 all over again. Will.law 03:07, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

namespace formating
If you look at Wikipedia's monobook.css file, near the top, you'll see a section called /* BEGIN LIGHT BLUE SECTION */, where the default background color is set to light blue, then changed to white for the main namespace using css commands with ".ns-0" in the command line. The same technique could be used for the Cookbook's namespace, by using css commands that include the ".ns-102" (I think) for the main cookbook, and ".ns-103" for the cookbook talk namespace. It could also be used for more than just background colors. 71.132.3.124 22:00, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

 * oops, that was me. Gentgeen 22:01, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it will be cool. I've already modified my style sheet to make Cookbook pages have a white background again. I'll have to look at the other things we can do with styles. Gentgeen 22:15, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Gardening/cookbook linking
Hadn't notice that (though I had actually read a bunch of those pages). The "gardening" book is being replaced... it's actually just a transcription of an old (and out-of date) book. I'll make a new template for the new book, maybe something similar for linking back to the cookbook as well. Johnny 14:51, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Just to give you an update: I've created a template ( ((Veggiegrowing|ARTICLE)) ) that I'm adding to ingredient pages as WmG chapters are added. I'll probably add a few pages too... Mustard Greens and Tatsoi coming soon (BTW, I'm going to add "Pac Choi" as a redirect to "Bok Choy" on the ingredients list as a way of disambigging. SB_Johnny 17:20, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

 * I left the old one because the new book doesn't yet have chapters to replace all of the ones linked in. It's also because the new book is multivolume, so it needs a different template for fruits, herbs, and vegetables in any case. SB_Johnny 09:36, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Re: Cake and Dessert categories
Thanks for the tip, although I'm not sure what prompted it... FWIW, I also consider cake a 'morning/afternoon tea' food (like biscuits cookies) as well as a dessert (which is rather a course than a meal, but I get what you're saying)... unfortunately there is quite a lot of variance in the English-speaking world regarding meals. cheers --pfctdayelise 13:59, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Ah I see. Sorry, then. Feel free to revert! I have to say I have trouble considering a cake as a dessert though. Pudding, which is surely just warm cake maybe with sauce, yes. But cold cake you eat with coffee, my brain just says no. :) --pfctdayelise 16:47, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

RE COTM
Thanks for the head's up about the COTM. I'll look for a more appropriate image (there should be one on commons, I would hope) or else I will try to make one and upload it myself. The wording seems good so far, so i dont think it needs to get changed too too much. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 13:30, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

General voting rules/Proposal
I don't know if you have heard about this yet or not. We have created a new proposed policy to replace the old proposed General voting rules policy. This new version doesn't require hard percentages, and puts a strong focus on the idea of concensus. Your comments/questions/suggestions on this new policy would be well appreciated. I would like to put this new policy to a vote sometime next week (assuming we all stop changing it around). --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 18:17, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Thanks for your comments. I created multiple subpages for the various versions and revisions of this policy, so that we can view them side-by-side, and pick the ones that are best. I took the liberty of copying your proposed version to General voting rules/Proposal/Version 4. I left you some comments about it on the discussion page. The gist of my comments are that I like your proposal, but i think it needs more prose, and It needs more emphasis on the key ideas of consensus, compromise, etc. Take a look at some of the previous versions, and see if you find any that you like. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 14:28, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

 * I wrote out a prose-version of your policy: General voting rules/Proposal/Version 5. I tried to be as faithful as possible to your points, but I wanted to make it easier to read. You can feel free to edit things that you don't think are faithful to your original text. I think that wording like this, along with some small additions (User:Robert Horning proposed additional text that would allow a future increase in the minimum contribution number, and User:RobinH mentioned a few small changes) would be acceptable to everybody. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 20:07, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Cocktail recipes, etc.
Is there a spot in the cookbook for these, or should I redirect them to Bartending? (See Transwiki:Cookbook:Tiki_Bar_TV_recipes for an example... I think I've seen others as well). SB_Johnny | talk 22:40, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

2 quick thoughts
During my roamings, I've run across other food and drink related topics, including information on drying and canning, slaughtering, commercial food service, etc. I'm wondering if these should be a mainpage category, or should they just be a how-to category. Any opinions?

Also, does the cookbook have a cover page? I was thinking of making nicer templates for use on wikipedia using bookcovers for the gardening book, and thought it would be nice for the cookbook too (the current template (to me) seems a bit dull). If you have a good image for that use, please let me know.

Finally just a shameless plug: would you be interested in voting in my RfA? -- SB_Johnny | talk 09:12, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

 * If they are applicable, they should be merged into the cookbook. Some of them might be better as standalone howtos, but the cookbook currently serves as an umbrella book for all food-related items.
 * The cookbook has a "cover" which also serves as a table of contents: Cookbook.
 * Kellen T 14:53, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

 * They're definitely stand-alones... I'll leave you some links tomorrow morning (just popping in now... have company over).
 * For the cover, I was more thinking of an image (hopefully colorful) that would replace the "wikibooks" icon on the WP template. I had invisioned something like an iron pan with colorful veggies or something along those lines. I've "spoken" with quite a few people on WP who see the "wikibooks has more about..." template as being along the lines of "the soviet union also has swimming pools, though of course they're not as nice as wikipedian swimming pools". Blue and grey, blah.
 * BTW: I keep thinking of adding some of my recipes to the cookbook, but they're really not very good reading. "Put a bit of olive oil in a very hot iron pan, add freshly picked baby squash, aslt and pepper, cook 45 seconds, serve." Should that be a separate recipe, or should I just put that sort of thing on the "ingredients" page?
 * I kind of wonder in general if there should be this sort of thing somehow tied into ingredient pages: a simple way to cook up an ingredient you might not be familiar with as a way of "acquiring the taste". I think it would be a good way of helping people know how to incorporate things like asian greens and such if they had a simple recipe for just "taste-testing", so that they'd know how an ingredient tastes just by itself, and can then extrapolate how it will affect a "whatever's in the fridge" meal.
 * Whaddya think? -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:04, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Basically you're suggesting that we need a custom logo for the cookbook, and you're right. I mocked one up a while back with a chef's hat and a crossed knife and fork on the wikibooks logo, but it wasn't really what I wanted. If you have any artistic inclinations, I say you should go for it and try to knock one out. Most of the other cookbook contributors (Albert, Gentgeen, etc) are inactive at the moment (and I'm not using the internets as much as usual) so we could use some new energy.
 * We sometimes have "basic preparation" on ingredients pages. This would especially be appropriate for "best" cutting techniques, but simple cooking techniques would also be good. Kellen T 20:50, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I'll take a pic of an iron pan with bright colored yummies and run it by you.
 * Not sure what "'best' cutting techniques" means. -- SB_Johnny  | talk 22:22, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Like how you can cut the top off an onion, then slice it in half, peel it, then cut most of the way through it, laterally, then cut slices into it, and finally chop it into tiny square bits. Or how you can do a single side cut on a bell pepper, then cut the stem out while rolling the pepper to end up with a nice flat bit of bell pepper. Kellen T 23:55, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh... yes, that would be a good thing to include. --00:03, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
 * People generally have very poor knife technique (me included), but often only need to be shown/told once a good way to cut something before they adopt it. CUT! Kellen T 06:57, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I'll try to put some of that in as I get the gardening modules done. Also some hints on how to judge is something is ripe, overripe, etc. -- SB_Johnny | talk 10:48, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Got a template now...
See Growit. I actually just chose a random image from commons (which I'll change from time to time on the template), can you think of anything that would work for the cookbook (and look good at 50px)? I'd at least like to get one going for linking to the cookbook from the garden book (also to and from the bartending book for both books). What's a good background color for a cookbook link? -- SB_Johnny | talk 21:48, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Maybe this image? (It's nice and colorful). -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:43, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Sweden
How do you like it?? How are the snax?? Ps. update yr user page. Also I saw John Wiese on Saturday and he said he was excited to run into you in London! Dingdong! jessalyn 17:45, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Cookbook Write lessons
I am sorry to disturb, but I have a problem. I went to the Cookbook page and then clicked to discussion. But then there opens a page, which is not like the normal discussion sides. Instead of the discussion, there is a box. I was wondering, where the normal discussion takes place? Because there was no normal discussion, I clicked to "edit" and wrote into the box, because of cooking lessons. Then you edited this and wrote: "elaborate the lessons thing on the actual talk page, thx". I would do that, if there were one. Where is it? Thank you for an answer. -- 84.132.119.6 15:19, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

RE: Beanburgers
Thanks for the message, and for noticing me in the sea of recent changes! I have photos somewhere, but I just can't seem to find the disc copies. Perhaps they're on another computer: I'll look next time I'm there. Anyway, pointing those pages out to me is much appreciated, but I'm not sure how much I can contribute, since my time is already squeezed due to Wikipedia, Wiktionary and WiktionaryZ :). I principally add recipes here since I get bored of repeating them over and over to people: this way I can just give links them ;). Anyway, I've rabbitted enough. Have a great day! Kind regards, Celestianpower 23:14, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Cookbook:Sambal Tempoyak
Hi, I've worked on Sambal Tempoyak, which you tagged. Please check it out if you find the page improved enough to remove the template. Thanks. --BorgQueen 22:04, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Please comment or vote...
Wikibooks:Request for enabling special:import

This would make the transwiki of recipes from en.wp a lot easier (recipes seem to make up the majority of w:Category:Copy to Wikibooks). The folks at meta have asked for a show of local support for turning it on. -- SB_Johnny | talk 12:08, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Sorry... one more vote please?
One more thing to smooth out the transwiki process... Wikibooks:Request_for_enabling_special:import. We're asking that "Transwiki:" be given namespace status so we can import to it directly. -- SB_Johnny | talk 19:51, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks
Hi and thanks for the welcome. I hope that I'll have the time to make some contributions here, particlarly to cookery. So far I've just worked on getting some recipes into proper alpha category order (a lot under "C" for Cookbook seemed a little unhelpful!). Hope I'm doing the right thing? Regards -- Herby talk thyme 14:50, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Point taken and I will vote but as the vote started 2 years ago maybe I'll do some clean up too. Finding "Paella" under "C" is just too strange for me and I guess unhelpful for the casual reader.  Is there a way of getting the necessary Cookbook: prefix into links (far more tedious than correctly arraging cats in my mind!)?
 * Whatever else - thanks for your patience with a newby - you'll get peace for a bit as I'm away for the weekend! - Herby talk thyme 12:20, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the response. Hopefully I'll stop bugging folk with questions soon but I do appreciate your patience.  I hope my contributions will make it all worthwhile!  Regards -- Herby  talk thyme 16:08, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Sure but is one preferred? -- Herby talk thyme 19:38, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Alpha cats
Apologies - I'll revert/correct them over the next few hours. Trying new things and happy to hear when I get it wrong -- Herby talk thyme 15:18, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
 * OK there weren't that many so they are done. Is the actual page name or  the preferred method?  Regards -- Herby  talk thyme 15:27, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks again - I think the thread got confused and so did I! I'll use  from now on.  Regards -- Herby  talk thyme 06:57, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

IP revert
I think you are getting to it by the look of it but the same IP strangely edited Tuna too. Regards -- Herby talk thyme 09:27, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Guess I missed you. I've looked at the edits to Tuna and I'm not sure what is valid if anything? -- Herby  talk thyme 10:47, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

RFA nomination
I just nominated you for adminship... you of all people might find the tools handy and useful.

I actually find it hard to believe that you weren't nominated before (actually, I was under the impression you had been but declined, but couldn't find evidence of that in the archive). As I have no doubt this nomination will be successful, I offer my assistance if you have any question about how the tools work (only fair, since you've helped me understand so many things in the past!) -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:21, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Congratulations, you are now a sysop. User:SBJohnny and I have been toying with the idea of "new administrator mentorship", so if you have any questions, need any help, or anything, please let us know. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 17:09, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Metrication categories
Thanks for your message about the incorrect categories. I am aware of this and noticed that all the recipes were being listed under M. I'm in the process of fixing them all but it'll take me a bit of time. Thanks. Xania 20:26, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi
Hi Kellen - I notice that you have not been around for a while - I do hope all is well? Regards -- Herby talk thyme 08:32, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I'd offer you a hand with the moving but it will be a "virtual one". Hope it goes well -- Herby  talk thyme 10:52, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Ellen,

Please check your DOG RECIPE. I find it quite objectionable that you sensationalize the "killing of the dog part."

People from these third world countries have very little choice but to either kill a dog, cat, rat to survive. Unlike you, they come from very poor countries and do not have the time or the resources to be as choosy as you are. I find it offensive that you who campaign against pain does not even understand the violence that is brought about by poverty. Gandhi once said that the most severe form of violence is poverty. If you are so enlightened, then you would surely at least sympathize or commiserate w/ these people's plight. You are a grass-consuming people-hating insensitive spoiled ignoramus!

VfDs!
Good to have you back - have you moved or is the stress getting to you?! I no expert on acceptability here but I think I agree. You may fancy taking a look at Miracles while you are in the mood (& of course you may want to read up on Future it kind of survived on a technicality. Regards -- Herby  talk thyme 08:55, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikibooks Newsletter, Volume 1
(Wikibooks gazette home | Discuss | Bulletin board | Subscription list)

This is a short newsletter that is being distributed to all active wikibookians. You are getting this message because you are recognized as an established contributor to the project. This newsletter will be distributed on a regular basis to help share news, information, and tips. It comes from a bot account, User:The Staff. User:The Staff is currently operated by a team of wikibooks admins, the complete list of which is available on the user page of the bot. If you would like to not receive this newletter anymore, please remove your name from the list at Active wikibookians.

The work you do at Wikibooks is greatly appreciated. However there are plenty of other opportunities for you to get involved and help us to create a thriving Wikibooks community. We are sure that there are things we can do to help you and your understanding of Wikibooks and similarly there are certainly things you could do to help Wikibooks become a better place.

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Sometimes it is easy to forget that the Wikibooks community is much larger and more diverse then the people who work in a single book, or on a single bookshelf. Hopefully, together we can all make Wikibooks a better place, and a more valuable educational resource.

The Staff 04:16, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Lonely cookbook categories...
Why do you tag them, rather than just deleting them? :) Category:Candidates_for_speedy_deletion is a good page to keep an eye on in general... material from the cookbook often appears there. -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:29, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

 * You get used to doing things a certain way; forgot I was an admin. Kellen T 10:19, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for categorising Camping recipes! I'm always intimidated by the Cookbook because it is so large. I'd prefer having a seasoned editor do the dirty work. Also, have you since the massive Recent Changes mess? I wonder what Pmo200g is doing. Cheers, User:Iamunknown 08:49, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Hello from WikiCast
A recipe "Rice Pudding" which you assisted on is being considered for adaptation by WikiCast. WikiCast is a project aiming to produce 'free' content audio for download and podcast

As you assisted on the recipe it would be appreciated if you got in touch?

ShakespeareFan00 02:07, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I asked you to get in touch as I felt it was a courtesy to ask contributors before re-use (even if the item concerned is GFDL). Obivously the derived programme will have to be GFDL as well (although most other WikiCast stuff is CC-BY-SA). If you have any objections to reuse of the item concerned please LMK. Altenativly if you are willing to assit WikiCast, Welcome :-) ShakespeareFan00 12:17, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

 * OK Thanks, The WikiCast Wiki is at http://www.bitshuffle.org/wikicast/Main_Page,
 * The specfic recipe script is at http://www.bitshuffle.org/wikicast/Recipe/RicePudding (with a few changes) -
 * Please stop by the WikiCast wiki or #WikiCast on freenode IRC
 * WikiCaast needs people, If you are intrested :-) ShakespeareFan00 13:57, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Above recipe script nuked over licence compatibility concerns - ShakespeareFan00 01:58, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Above Comments no longer relevant, as intended plan for GFDL based podcast,

meaning licensing SHOULD be comptaible. ShakespeareFan00 08:44, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Forking proposal
I noticed you had taken part in the policy discussion about forking, and wonder if you might weigh in at Forking proposal, which is about the technical side of making good forks. -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:35, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Microwave
It was the "1881" VfD that "occured". I deleted some (generally very short) and left some that looked more promising (you weren't around) - that one was borderline and I have no problem with undeleting it -- Herby talk thyme 18:56, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
 * In closing the vfd I felt some stuff had to go - almost all were very stubby indeed (qr-em is useful for such stubs) and IIRC mostly soups.
 * If you are around could I ask you to look at User talk:Opadit and the reference to the copyright recipe.  I am never sure that a basic recipe can really be copyright but hopefully your experience will help (there's been no response to the enquiry).  For your info I came across a bunch of Spanish recipes that were copyright (got Webaware's view as well) which I deleted - they came from User talk:TWODM256 in case you miss it and are interested (tho will not show on contribs as they are deleted).  Regards -- Herby  talk thyme 09:46, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Heads up
Just mentioning to you that I archived a post in Staff lounge/Chat see Staff_lounge/Archive_31 where you left a question opened (no reply since 12 February 2007). --Panic 16:15, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Query
Wrong creme anglais deleted? -- Herby talk thyme 13:01, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Another DynamicPageList questions
Hi Kellen... long time no chat!

I have 2 questions about using DPL to make lists of plants from 2 or more categories in the garden book (and eventually on Wikiversity as well for creating a visual interface for the Bloom Clock).

First, I'd like to make lists that show links only as subpagenames. So for example the list that is currently generated at User:SBJohnny/sandbox3 wouldn't have the "A Wikimanual of Gardening/" part, just the subpagenames.

Second, I'd like it to generate pages created from other pages (for the Bloom Clock). That's more complicated though... I'll "hand-make" a few pages to show you examples first (I'm realizing as I write this that it's just amazingly complex).

Any chance you can help me with this? What I'm trying to do is make the garden book searchable, so for example there can be pages that list "all pink-flowered perennial plants that bloom in spring and are hardy in zone 6". -- SB_Johnny | talk 10:07, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

 * Unfortunately (1) we are using a very old version of DPL this one (2) you can't show just subpage names (3) even if you got the latest version installed, you still can't show just subpage names (4) if you mean you want to create DPL-filtered list of pages from an already DPL-filtered list of pages, I think you'll just have to copy the DPL rules from the first rule into the new list rules. Hope that's clear. I can give you more of a hand if you can explain precisely what you want and what you can do/have already done yourself. Kellen T 05:57, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

 * Hey again. Yup, we're using the clunker version :(. I did some asking around, and apparently there's no chance of them instaling the current version. -- SB_Johnny | talk 08:26, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

G'day...
Nice to see you're still around. Are you basically on WP now? Or busy with Real Life® Webaware talk 23:36, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I was working on WP a lot for a while, but dealing with the troll/POV armies have put me off it for a bit. Kellen T 11:31, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah, WP can be a bit harrowing. Glad to see you back. Webaware talk 11:45, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Renaming of account on fr.wp
You have successfully usurped the account fr:Utilisateur:Kellen. Regards, Blinking Spirit (talk) 12:06, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

Inactivity
So you're aware, you're up for removal of your adminship due to inactivity. The request will be placed at Meta in one month's time. Thanks for your service; you're welcome to request adminship again if you return to Wikibooks. — Mike.lifeguard | talk 21:48, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Kellen


text:
FHSST Physics/Momentum

Momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. In general the momentum of an object can be conceptually thought of as the tendency for an object to continue in its current state of motion, speed and direction.

As such, it is a natural consequence of Newtons first law.

Momentum is a conserved quantity, meaning that the total momentum of any closed system cannot be changed.

Momentum in classical mechanics
If an object is moving in any reference frame, then it has momentum in that frame. It is important to note that momentum is frame dependent. That is, the same object may have a certain momentum in one frame of reference, but a different amount in another frame.

The amount of momentum that an object has depends on two physical quantities: the mass and the velocity of the moving object in the frame of reference. In physics, the symbol for momentum is usually denoted by $$\vec p$$, so this can be written:

 * $$\vec p=m\vec v$$

where
 * $$\vec p$$ is the momentum,
 * $$m$$ is the mass, and
 * $$\vec v$$ is the velocity.

The velocity of an object is given by its speed and its direction. Because momentum depends on velocity, it too has a magnitude and a direction and is a vector quantity. For example the momentum of a $$5kg$$ bowling ball would have to be described by the statement that it was moving westward at $$2\frac{m}{s}$$. It is insufficient to say that the ball has $$10kg\cdot\frac{m}{s}$$ of momentum because momentum is not fully described unless its direction is given.

Conservation of momentum
As far as we know, momentum is a conserved quantity. Conservation of momentum (sometimes also conservation of impulse) states that the total amount of momentum of all the things in the universe will never change. One of the consequences of this is that the center of mass of any system of objects will always continue with the same velocity unless acted on by a force outside the system.

Conservation of momentum is a consequence of the homogeneity of space.

In an isolated system (one where external forces are absent) the total momentum will be constant: this is implied by Newton's first law of motion. Newton's third law of motion, the law of reciprocal actions, which dictates that the forces acting between systems are equal in magnitude, but opposite in sign, is due to the conservation of momentum.

Since momentum is a vector quantity it has direction. Thus when a gun is fired, although overall movement has increased compared to before the shot was fired, the momentum of the bullet in one direction is equal in magnitude, but opposite in sign, to the momentum of the gun in the other direction. These then sum to zero which is equal to the zero momentum that was present before either the gun or the bullet was moving.

title: FHSST Physics/Momentum


text:
Control Systems/Z Transform Mappings

Z Transform Mappings
There are a number of different mappings that can be used to convert a system from the complex Laplace domain into the Z-Domain. None of these mappings are perfect, and every mapping requires a specific starting condition, and focuses on a specific aspect to reproduce faithfully. One such mapping that has already been discussed is the bilinear transform, which, along with prewarping, can faithfully map the various regions in the s-plane into the corresponding regions in the z-plane. We will discuss some other potential mappings in this chapter, and we will discuss the pros and cons of each.

Bilinear Transform
The Bilinear transform converts from the Z-domain to the complex W domain. The W domain is not the same as the Laplace domain, although there are some similarities. Here are some of the similarities between the Laplace domain and the W domain:

 * 1) Stable poles are in the Left-Half Plane
 * 2) Unstable poles are in the right-half plane
 * 3) Marginally stable poles are on the vertical, imaginary axis

With that said, the bilinear transform can be defined as follows:

 * $$w = \frac{2}{T} \frac{z - 1}{z + 1}$$

 * $$z = \frac{1+(Tw/2)}{1-(Tw/2)}$$

Graphically, we can show that the bilinear transform operates as follows:

Prewarping
The W domain is not the same as the Laplace domain, but if we employ the process of prewarping before we take the bilinear transform, we can make our results match more closely to the desired Laplace Domain representation.

Using prewarping, we can show the effect of the bilinear transform graphically:

The shape of the graph before and after prewarping is the same as it is without prewarping. However, the destination domain is the S-domain, not the W-domain.

Matched Z-Transform
If we have a function in the laplace domain that has been decomposed using partial fraction expansion, we generally have an equation in the form:

 * $$Y(s) = \frac{A}{s + \alpha_1} + \frac{B}{s + \alpha_2} + \frac{C}{s + \alpha_3} + ...$$

And once we are in this form, we can make a direct conversion between the s and z planes using the following mapping:

 * $$s + \alpha = 1 - z^{-1}e^{-\alpha T}$$

 * Pro:A good direct mapping in terms of s and a single coefficient
 * Con:requires the Laplace-domain function be decomposed using partial fraction expansion.

Simpson's Rule

 * $$s = \frac{3}{T} \frac{z^2-1}{z^2+4z^1+1}$$

 * CON:Essentially multiplies the order of the transfer function by a factor of 2. This makes things difficult when you are trying to physically implement the system. It has been shown that this transform produces unstable roots (outside of unit unit circle).

(w, v) Transform
Given the following system:

 * $$Y(s) = G(s, z, z^\alpha)X(s)$$

Then:

 * $$w = \frac{2}{T} \frac{z-1}{z+1}$$

 * $$v(\alpha) = 1 - \alpha(1 - z^{-1}) + \frac{\alpha(\alpha - 1)}{z}(1-z^{-1})^2$$

And:

 * $$Y(z) = G(w, z, v(\alpha))\left[X(z) - \frac{x(0)}{1 + z^{-1}}\right]$$

 * Pro:Directly maps a function in terms of z and s, into a function in terms of only z.
 * Con:Requires a function that is already in terms of s, z and α.

title: Control Systems/Z Transform Mappings


text:
Wikibooks:Book of the month/June 2006 voting

The voting for the Book of the month for June 2006 was open from May 1st, 2006, and closed on June 1st, 2006, 00:00 UTC.

'''Closed. Any votes added will be reverted.'''

UK Constitution and Government
(Automatically renominated with 5 votes for May)

Votes: Comments:
 * 1) DSYoungEsq 18:17, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Klingoncowboy4 19:13, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Dolive35 22:39, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) Novialiste 11:23, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Organic Chemistry
(Automatically renominated with 7 votes for May)

Votes: Comments: This book is really making a lot of progress, and it is a critically important subject to many scientific disciplines. ~Justin
 * 1) Everlong 21:06, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Klingoncowboy4 19:13, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Justin 09:45, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) Master  mind  007 10:01, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 5) Mario9 23:06 May 31st 2006
 * 6) hagindaz 22:26, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Movie Making Manual
(Automatically renominated with 5 votes for May)

Votes:
 * 1) Klingoncowboy4 19:13, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) German Men92 22:09, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Dilaudid 07:41, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) Master  mind  007 10:01, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 5) cauri 14:26, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Comments:
 * I would vote for it. I think it's great, but I think we should wait a little bit. It has so much potential that I'd like to keep expanding it. I personally just discovered it, and feel like I have a lot to contribute. 68.35.202.40 04:05, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

European History
Votes:
 * 1) Ultimadesigns 22:03, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Dragontamer 22:42, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Dilaudid 07:41, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) Master  mind  007 10:01, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 5) German Men92 19:55, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 6) Klingoncowboy4 18:24, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 7) Novialiste 11:22, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 8) Peteturtle 11:25, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 9) Sblive 15:31, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Comments:
 * This book has recently made a great deal of progress, becoming nearly complete and an incredible source of information and background for European History. Art has just been added, and some less important events are in the process of being added.  Over the past few days, I've also added a lot of maps, pictures, and more.  The book has been made uniform, showing the chapter title on each page, and starting with a brief albeit important introduction.  This book is certainly in every way a comprehensive text, an incredible change, since just a few weeks ago the book was a maturing text. - Ultimadesigns 02:34, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I am very impressed by this book, and surprised I haven't seen it before. o.O --Dragontamer 22:42, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

 * In simple words - brilliant, exquisite and developed. —— Master mind  007 10:01, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

 * A great developed book of very high quality, I am in awe from this book. --German Men92 21:18, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

 * UPDATE: Print and PDF versions are now available. --Ultimadesigns 21:57, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Wow! This is one of the best wikibooks I have ever seen! It's full of reliable information. Everyone has to read this well-developed wikibook. Go Europe! -- Peteturtle 11:27, 24 May 2006

Spanish
Votes:

 * 1) Sergio.solar 16:42, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
 * This user has fewer then 20 edits

 * 1) Klingoncowboy4 05:18, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) writerhawk 20:15, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Jack-o-jason 7:49, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Comments:
 * This book is a a great study aid and has been helpful to a lot of people that I know personally. Also, other language books have been Book of the Month.  Since Spanish is one of the languages with the highest population of Spanish-speaking people and since it is a common elective for American kids.  I believe this should be made a book of the month.  It is a wondrful source of information and should be rewarded. -Jack-o-jason 7:49, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Awesome book, great resource. Espescially with it's list of verbs and adjectives! I'm learning Spanish and I'm sure this will not only make great reading material, but help me in my studies.-writerhawk 20:16, 30 May 2006 (UTC)


text:
Wikibooks:Collaboration of the Month/June 2006 voting

Voting Rules
The following are the rules and conditions for voting for the Collaboration of the Month:

 * 1) Only registered users with 20 or more edits to their name may vote.
 * 2) You may vote under as many nominations as you wish, however, you may only vote for each book itself once.
 * 3) Sign your vote with a number sign and four tildes, #~, after the most previous vote under the book's nomination. Unsigned votes will be removed.
 * 4) Any nomination which receives 3 or more votes in one month will automatically be renominated the next month if it is not chosen.
 * 5) If you wish to include a short comment for your vote, then you may do so. Make sure that if you leave such a comment, that you are also voting for that page.
 * 6) Do not post objection votes as these will have no effect on the final tally.
 * 7) Voting will end at 00:00 UTC on the first day of each month. In essence, when a new month begins voting ends. Any votes added after this time will be discarded.
 * 8) The nomination with most votes will be chosen as the Collaboration of the Month. In case of a tie, the older Wikibook will be chosen.

Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter
(renominated with 5 votes for May)

Votes:
 * 1) Matt 23:31, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Klingoncowboy4 19:13, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Dolive35 11:13, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) Modella 09:28, 31st May 2006 (UTC)

Comments:

Help
Votes:

'Comments:
 * 1) Jguk 15:29, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Dilaudid 10:08, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Ultimadesigns 20:41, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) Dolive35 14:06, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 5) Master  mind   007  15:28, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 6) DettoAltrimenti 21:37, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

The help namespace should contain useful information for beginners (and probably something for oldtimers too). This should be the Welcome, Newcomers section. At present, though, it is turned off from the sidebar and is inadequate, Jguk 15:29, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Full of red links, the page How to start a Wikibook just says good question, really neads some work, but could be very useful. The low qaulity at the moment probaly puts lots of new contributors off.Dolive35 14:06, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Second Life
Votes:

 * 1) DSYoungEsq 18:23, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Comments:

All those players cannot be wrong!! DSYoungEsq 18:23, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

 * This book is about a game, and as such will need to be removed shortly as it doesn't comply with the Jimbo-amended WB:WIW. Therefore it's not appropriate to have this as a collaboration here on WB. DSYoungEsq, please see if you can find another wiki to take it over - StrategyWiki has been suggested for some of these game books, though I'm sure there are others about, Jguk 21:27, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

 * The proposal that Wikibooks not include game manuals is not yet an accepted consequence of the general idea that this is for "textbooks." I see that the WB:WIW talk page has discussion on this; the assertion that this policy was removed from the page. Unless and until it is accepted official policy, let's leave this open to see what people think. DSYoungEsq 17:49, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I know there is some small resistance to the move, but come the end of the day, what Jimbo says goes. I'm certainly sympathetic to those who wish Jimbo had spoken much earlier, when there were just a few of these books, but I do agree with the general premise that Wikibooks should be focused on textbooks and that removing the non-textbooks will improve that focus and encourage further positive development. I'm heartened that there is at least one location (StrategyWiki) and possibly another (www.gmcfoley.com) that will provide a future for these books. I wish them every success. In the meantime, until they are relocated, I think it would be wrong (and even though you do not intend it, almost like sticking two fingers up at our benevolent dictator) to nominate one of these books as a Wikibooks Collaboration of the Month, Jguk 19:27, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

 * If and when the policy is implemented, then the suggestion will be removed. In the absence of agreement to and adoption of a policy, my suggestion will remain.  I don't think this is the place to carry out a debate which seems to be being engaged between only a very few individuals, and which has other, more appropriate homes.  DSYoungEsq 13:29, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Italian
Votes:
 * 1) Master  mind   007  10:08, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) --Tahren B 10:00, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Doiçt 20:57, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Comments:
 * First French, then German now this one will be one day be the Book Of The Month. Although, for now it's under development which is definitely great. I hope one day it'll be so developed that it'll reach a standard of higher respect.
 * It's awesome to see the project grow, though I think there ought to be more variance in the themes of the focus points. I'd prefer to see lots of different projects of the month than have Wikibooks only focus on languages. Dilaudid 19:50, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

C Sharp Programming
Votes: Comments:
 * 1) Sblive 15:22, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) hagindaz 00:42, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Dolive35 14:03, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * That Wikibook has a solid base, so it may rapidly develop into a very helpful source of information for youth, or even experienced, programmers. Sblive 15:22, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I think we need a well designed traditional textbook to show off and encourage contributions for on the main page right now. This would definately fall in that category. --hagindaz 00:50, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Special relativity
Votes:
 * 1) Master  mind   007  15:32, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Klingoncowboy4 05:21, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Comments:
 * This book has illustrative diagrams a neat layout and is still improving. — Master  mind   007  15:32, 27 May 2006 (UTC)


text:
Optics/Evidence for light as a stream of particles

Light is the thing we define as the visible part of the spectrum of electromagnetic waves.

With the help of the impulse of a particle and the impulse of a(n) (electromagnetic) wave, evidence for light being a stream of particles and vice versa can be found.

The impulse/momentum of a "normal particle" is defined as:

$$p(\text{particle}) = mv$$

A scientist named Louis de Broglie found that the wavelength of an electromagnetic wave can be approached with planck's constant and the impulse of the waves. The formula looks like this:

$$\lambda = {h \over p}$$

or

$$p(\text{EM}) = {h \over \lambda}$$

Applying $$p = mv$$, we get:

$$\lambda = {h \over {mv}}$$

Rearranging the above equation, we have:

$${h \over \lambda} = mv$$

Which is equivalent to:

$$p(\text{EM}) = p(\text{particle})$$

Therefore, we conclude that an electromagnetic wave is just a stream of particles and vice-versa.


text:
Algebraic Geometry

Algebraic Geometry

Mission
To explain the major areas of Algebraic geometry, along with problem sets and solutions. Do be warned that fairly advanced mathematics lies ahead, and studying the prerequisites thoroughly is advised.

Prerequisites

 * Abstract Algebra
 * Geometry
 * Linear Algebra
 * Topology

Contents

 * /Introduction/
 * /Affine Varieties/
 * /Projective Varieties/
 * /Algebraic Varieties/
 * Morphisms of Varieties/
 * /The Riemann-Roch Theorem/
 * /Affine Schemes/
 * /Projective Schemes/
 * /Functions/

Authors
Matthew Whitworth User:Donutmug

title: Algebraic Geometry


text:
Algebraic Geometry/Introduction

Algebraic Geometry : Introduction

What is Algebraic Geometry?
Algebraic Geometry is a branch of mathematics that combines abstract algebra with geometry - more precisely; it is the study of algebraic objects using geometrical tools. It can be seen as a combination of linear algebra ("systems of linear equations in several variables"), and algebra ("study of polynomial equations in one variable" (though not exclusively)). Perhaps another description is that algebraic geometry is the study of polynomial functions and the spaces on which those polynomial functions are defined (known as algebraic varieties).

Therefore, the starting point for algebraic geometry is the study of the solutions of systems of polynomial equations:

$$f_i(X_1,X_2,...,X_n) = 0, i = 1,2,...,m, f_i \in k[X_1,X_2,...,X_n]$$

The theorems for polynomial equations depend on whether or not the field $$k$$ is algebraically closed and whether $$k$$ has characteristic 0.

For example, let $$k = \mathbb{Q}$$ and $$f (X_1,X_2,X_3) = X_1^n+X_2^n-X_3^n $$. This is Fermat's Last Theorem - and if $$n \ge 3$$ then only trivial solutions to the problem exist.

What questions can be asked of this system of polynomial equations? It is not possible in many circumstances to note all the solutions explicitly (remember that a single polynomial equation cannot be solved in general exactly if it's degree is greater than 4 - see Abel–Ruffini theorem) - so most study is dedicated towards the geometrical structure of the set of solutions to these equations.

Notation
Throughout the book, a ring will generally be taken as a commutative ring with identity, and $$k$$ will represent an algebraically closed field.

Preliminaries
In order to progress in the subject, we must review some results from commutative algebra (i.e. the study of commutative rings).

History
The field of algebraic geometry was first developed by Islamic mathematicians, such as the Persian mathematician Omar Khayyám.

title: Algebraic Geometry/Introduction


text:
Control Systems/System Specifications

System Specification
There are a number of different specifications that might need to be met by a new system design. In this chapter we will talk about some of the specifications that systems use, and some of the ways that engineers analyze and quantify technical systems.

Sensitivity
The sensitivity of a system is a parameter that is specified in terms of a given output and a given input. The sensitivity measures how much change is caused in the output by small changes to the reference input. Sensitive systems have very large changes in output in response to small changes in the input. The sensitivity of system H to input X is denoted as:

 * $$S_H^X(s)$$

Disturbance Rejection
All physically-realized systems have to deal with a certain amount of noise and disturbance. The ability of a system to reject the noise is known as the disturbance rejection of the system.

Control Effort
The control effort is the amount of energy or power necessary for the controller to perform its duty.

title: Control Systems/System Specifications


text:
Modern History/Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was perhaps the bloodiest civil war in human history, a clash between the forces of the Qing Empire in China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan, a Christian convert who had claimed that he was the new Messiah and younger brother of Jesus Christ. He and his followers established the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace (Traditional Chinese: 太平天國; Hanyu Pinyin: Tàipíng Tiānguó; Wade-Giles: T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo) and attained control of significant parts of southern China. Most accurate sources put the total deaths at about 20 million civilians and army personnel, although some claim the death toll was much higher (as many as 50 million according to at least one source.)

title: Modern History/Taiping Rebellion


text:
Modern History/Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War (July 18, 1936–April 1, 1939) was a conflict in which the incumbent Second Spanish Republic and political left-wing groups fought against a right-wing nationalist insurrection led by General Francisco Franco, who eventually succeeded in ousting the Republican government and establishing a personal dictatorship. It was the result of the complex political, economic and even cultural divisions between what Spanish writer Antonio Machado characterized as the two Spains.

title: Modern History/Spanish Civil War


text:
Talk:Non-Programmer's Tutorial for Python 2.6/Debugging

This chapter could probably be moved forward in the book a bit. I'm helping someone through the tutorial and he's currently stuck on the exercise where he had to modify the password program to count failed attempts. If he had read this chapter before attempting the exercise, he would have more of a chance to debug his program (which is counting one more than it should). Dooglus 17:35, 1 May 2006 (UTC) dooglus

I noticed that the navigation to the next chapter goes to the Python 2.0 page. I'd fix it, but I'm not sure how. Here's the correct url: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer's_Tutorial_for_Python_2.6/Defining_Functions


text:
Ancient History/China

 * Introduction
 * Xia
 * Shang
 * Zhou
 * Spring and Autumn Period
 * Warring States Period
 * Qin Dynasty
 * Han Dynasty
 * Western Han Dynasty
 * Xin Dynasty
 * Eastern Han Dynasty
 * Three Kingdoms Period
 * Jin Dynasty
 * Southern and Northern Dynasties

title: Ancient History/China