How does the use of English-based symbols like F = ma, instead of native-language equivalents, influence peoples’ conceptual understanding and engagement with scientific concepts across different linguistic and cultural contexts?

F=ma is universally taught as "F" standing for force, "m" for mass and "a" for acceleration but if we were to use localise it in Russian or Chinese or Swahili the same formula might look like this:

С=М×У (сила=масса×ускорение)

N=M×K (nguvu=misa×kuharakisha)

力=质×加 (力=质量×加速度)

English being the lingua franca and Latin alphabet being the default, I imagine this creates English-centrism all across the world when it comes to maths and physics, given that while the symbol F standing for force might make intiutive sense for a native English speaker, I'm not sure you would be able to say the same about a Turkish speaker where Kuvvet aka the letter K would stand for force.

The question is does this constitute a barrier? We do it with certain Greek letters and just learn that delta Δ means change or μ means friction coefficient but I would be interested to hear whether people have difficulty with intiutive understanding and engagement due to the language of scientific notation?

(p.s.: no idea if the translations make sense, used AI for it)

Submitted November 04, 2025 at 09:15PM by CalvinbyHobbes https://ift.tt/riuMteD