Gratis

Glossario italiano-inglese

I termini di matematica e fisica dei corsi universitari con la traduzione usata nei libri di testo in inglese, per chi studia su un manuale in inglese, segue un corso in lingua inglese o parte per un periodo all’estero. Le sezioni seguono le materie del sito.

I nomi dei corsi

I corsi del primo biennio hanno all’estero nomi diversi da quelli italiani; la tabella riporta il nome usato nei programmi in inglese e, in inglese, che cosa comprende il corso in Italia.

Corso in Italia	Nome in inglese	Che cosa comprende
Analisi matematica 1	Calculus 1 / Mathematical Analysis 1	Single-variable calculus with proofs: sequences, limits, derivatives, integrals, numerical series and first differential equations.
Analisi matematica 2	Multivariable calculus / Mathematical Analysis 2	Functions of several variables, multiple and line integrals, vector calculus, sequences and series of functions, Fourier series.
Geometria / Algebra lineare e geometria	Linear algebra and analytic geometry	Matrices, linear systems, vector spaces, eigenvalues, inner products, lines and planes in space, conics and quadrics.
Fisica 1	Physics 1	Mechanics of particles and rigid bodies, oscillations, gravitation, fluids and thermodynamics.
Fisica 2	Physics 2	Electromagnetism, from Coulomb’s law to Maxwell’s equations, often with an introduction to optics.
Matematica generale	Mathematics for economics / business calculus	The single math course of economics programs: functions, limits, derivatives, integrals, some linear algebra and financial mathematics.
Precorso	Precalculus	A short course held before the first semester to review high-school algebra, trigonometry and analytic geometry.
Metodi matematici	Mathematical methods for engineering / physics	Complex analysis, Fourier and Laplace transforms, distributions and partial differential equations, usually in the third year.
Fisica matematica	Mathematical physics	Analytical mechanics (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian) and the partial differential equations of physics.
Analisi numerica / Calcolo numerico	Numerical analysis	Numerical solution of equations, linear systems, interpolation, quadrature and differential equations, usually with MATLAB or Python.
Probabilità e statistica	Probability and statistics	Probability spaces, random variables, common distributions, estimation and hypothesis testing.
Calcolo delle probabilità	Probability theory	The probability course of mathematics programs, more theoretical than Probabilità e statistica.
Ricerca operativa	Operations research	Linear and integer programming, network optimization and the simplex method.
Meccanica razionale	Analytical mechanics / Rational mechanics	A mathematical treatment of mechanics: kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies, Lagrangian mechanics and stability, typical of engineering programs.
Matematica discreta	Discrete mathematics	Combinatorics, graphs, modular arithmetic and basic algebraic structures, common in computer science programs.

Le materie del sito in inglese: Precorso · Analisi matematica 1 · Analisi matematica 2 · Algebra lineare e geometria analitica · Fisica 1 · Fisica 2 · Matematica generale (guida in inglese agli esami italiani).

Il glossario

246 termini divisi per materia. Il termine inglese è quello dei libri di testo; la nota segnala le differenze di notazione (per esempio sen e tg, che in inglese sono sin e tan).

Università e esami

Italiano	Inglese	Nota
appello	exam sitting / exam date	One of the scheduled dates on which a given exam can be taken; each course usually offers several per year and students choose which one to register for.
sessione d’esame	exam session	A period of a few weeks (typically January-February, June-July and September) in which lectures stop and exams are held.
prova scritta	written exam	The written part of an exam, usually a set of exercises to be solved in two or three hours; in math courses it is often the main part.
prova orale	oral exam	A face-to-face examination with the professor, often on definitions, theorems and proofs, that may follow a passed written exam.
voto in trentesimi	grade out of 30	Italian university exams are graded on a scale from 18 (pass) to 30, so a grade is read as a number out of thirty.
30 e lode	30 cum laude (30 with honors)	The highest possible grade, awarded for an outstanding exam; it counts slightly more than 30 in the final degree average.
18 (voto minimo)	18 (minimum passing grade)	The lowest passing grade; a student who scores below 18 fails and must retake the whole exam at a later sitting.
rifiutare il voto	to refuse the grade	A student who passes with a low grade may reject it and retake the exam later to improve it; the refused grade is not recorded.
CFU (credito formativo universitario)	university credit (ECTS credit)	A unit measuring student workload, equivalent to one ECTS credit; a first-year calculus course is typically worth 6 to 12 CFU.
esonero / prova intercorso	midterm exam	A partial test held during the course; students who pass the midterms are exempted from the corresponding part of the final exam.
propedeuticità	prerequisite requirement	A rule stating that a given exam must be passed before another one can be taken, for example Analisi 1 before Analisi 2.
ricevimento	office hours	The weekly time slot in which a professor is available to meet students and answer questions.
laurea triennale	bachelor’s degree (three-year degree)	The first-cycle degree, lasting three years and worth 180 credits.
laurea magistrale	master’s degree	The second-cycle degree, lasting two years and worth 120 credits, taken after the laurea triennale.
corso di laurea	degree program	The whole study program leading to a degree, for example the degree program in Civil Engineering.
matricola	freshman / student ID number	Both a first-year student and the identification number assigned to every student at enrollment.
fuori corso	beyond the standard duration	The status of a student who has not completed all exams within the official length of the degree program and keeps enrolling to finish.
compito	exam paper	The sheet of exercises given in a written exam; past exam papers are the standard training material for students.
traccia	exam question / problem statement	The text of an exercise or of the whole exam as handed out to the students.
svolgimento	worked solution	The complete, step-by-step solution of an exercise, as the student is expected to write it in the exam.
esercitazione	problem session / tutorial	A class, often led by a teaching assistant, devoted to solving exercises rather than presenting theory.
dispensa	lecture notes	Notes written by the professor and distributed to students, often used in place of or alongside a textbook.
libro di testo	textbook	The reference book adopted for a course.
ripetizioni	private tutoring	One-to-one or small-group paid lessons taken outside the university to prepare for an exam.
Ingegneria	Engineering	Engineering programs in Italy require Analisi 1, Analisi 2, Geometria and Fisica 1 and 2 in the first two years.

Precorso e algebra

Italiano	Inglese	Nota
equazione	equation
disequazione	inequality
equazione di primo grado	linear equation / first-degree equation
equazione di secondo grado	quadratic equation
discriminante	discriminant	Called delta in Italian classrooms, from the symbol Δ.
equazione irrazionale	radical equation / irrational equation
condizioni di esistenza	domain conditions	The conditions (denominators nonzero, radicands nonnegative, logarithm arguments positive) that an expression requires to be defined; often abbreviated C.E.
polinomio	polynomial
grado	degree
prodotti notevoli	special products
scomposizione in fattori	factoring / factorization
regola di Ruffini	Ruffini’s rule	Known in English as synthetic division.
radicale	radical
razionalizzazione	rationalizing the denominator
logaritmo	logarithm
logaritmo naturale	natural logarithm	Written ln in both languages; Italian texts sometimes write log for the natural logarithm, English texts for base 10.
goniometria	trigonometry
circonferenza goniometrica	unit circle
seno	sine	Italian notation sen x, English notation sin x.
coseno	cosine
tangente	tangent	Italian notation tg x, English notation tan x; similarly cotg becomes cot and arctg becomes arctan.
formule di addizione	angle addition formulas
formule di duplicazione	double-angle formulas
valore assoluto	absolute value
piano cartesiano	Cartesian plane
retta	line / straight line
coefficiente angolare	slope
parabola	parabola
circonferenza	circle	Italian distinguishes circonferenza (the curve) from cerchio (the disk); English uses circle for the curve and disk for the region.
ellisse	ellipse
iperbole	hyperbola
conica	conic section / conic

Analisi matematica 1

Italiano	Inglese	Nota
insieme	set
estremo superiore	supremum / least upper bound	Written sup in both languages.
estremo inferiore	infimum / greatest lower bound
principio di induzione	principle of mathematical induction
dominio naturale / campo di esistenza	natural domain	The largest set on which the formula defining a function makes sense; campo di esistenza is the older school name.
codominio	codomain	The target set of the function, not to be confused with the image.
immagine	image / range	The set of values actually taken by the function; English textbooks often call it the range.
funzione iniettiva	injective function / one-to-one function
funzione suriettiva	surjective function / onto function
funzione inversa	inverse function
successione	sequence
punto di accumulazione	accumulation point / limit point
limite	limit
limite notevole	fundamental limit / standard limit	There is no fixed English name; textbooks speak of special limits or standard limits, for example sin x / x as x goes to 0.
teorema del confronto	squeeze theorem	Also called teorema dei carabinieri in Italian.
infinitesimo	infinitesimal	In Italian usage, a function that tends to zero; English texts more often say a function that tends to zero than infinitesimal.
gerarchia degli infiniti	growth hierarchy	The comparison of logarithms, powers, exponentials and factorials as x tends to infinity.
o piccolo	little-o
asintoto verticale	vertical asymptote
asintoto obliquo	slant asymptote / oblique asymptote
continuità	continuity
teorema degli zeri	Bolzano’s theorem / intermediate value theorem for zeros
teorema di Weierstrass	extreme value theorem	English textbooks rarely attach the name Weierstrass to this theorem.
derivata	derivative
derivabile	differentiable
punto stazionario	stationary point / critical point
punto angoloso	corner point	A point where left and right derivatives exist, are finite and differ.
cuspide	cusp
punto di flesso	inflection point
concavità	concavity
funzione convessa	convex function	Italian also says concavità verso l’alto; English says concave up.
massimo relativo	local maximum / relative maximum
teorema di Rolle	Rolle’s theorem
teorema di Lagrange	mean value theorem	English textbooks say mean value theorem, not Lagrange’s theorem.
teorema di de l’Hôpital	l’Hôpital’s rule
formula di Taylor	Taylor’s formula / Taylor expansion
polinomio di McLaurin	Maclaurin polynomial
resto di Peano	Peano remainder	The little-o form of the remainder; English texts mostly use the Lagrange form or the big-O form.
studio di funzione	curve sketching / graphing a function	The standard exam exercise: domain, symmetries, sign, limits, asymptotes, derivatives, monotonicity, concavity and graph.
primitiva	antiderivative
integrale indefinito	indefinite integral
integrale definito	definite integral
integrazione per parti	integration by parts
integrazione per sostituzione	integration by substitution
fratti semplici	partial fractions
teorema fondamentale del calcolo integrale	fundamental theorem of calculus
integrale improprio	improper integral
serie numerica	numerical series / series
carattere di una serie	behavior of a series	Whether the series converges, diverges or is indeterminate; English has no single word for this.
serie geometrica	geometric series
serie a termini di segno alterno	alternating series
convergenza semplice	conditional convergence	Italian semplicemente convergente means convergent but not absolutely convergent.
criterio del confronto	comparison test
criterio del rapporto	ratio test
criterio della radice	root test
criterio di Leibniz	alternating series test / Leibniz test
equazione differenziale	differential equation
problema di Cauchy	initial value problem / Cauchy problem
equazione a variabili separabili	separable equation
equazione lineare del primo ordine	first-order linear equation
equazione caratteristica	characteristic equation
integrale generale	general solution
metodo di somiglianza	method of undetermined coefficients

Analisi matematica 2

Italiano	Inglese	Nota
funzione di più variabili	function of several variables
curva di livello	level curve
insieme aperto / chiuso	open set / closed set
insieme compatto	compact set
derivata parziale	partial derivative
gradiente	gradient
differenziabilità	differentiability
teorema del differenziale totale	total differential theorem	In English texts this is usually stated as: continuous partial derivatives imply differentiability.
matrice hessiana	Hessian matrix
punto di sella	saddle point
teorema di Dini	implicit function theorem	English textbooks do not attach Dini’s name to it.
massimi e minimi liberi	unconstrained extrema
massimi e minimi vincolati	constrained extrema
moltiplicatori di Lagrange	Lagrange multipliers
curva parametrica	parametric curve
integrale di linea di prima specie	line integral of a scalar field
integrale di linea di seconda specie	line integral of a vector field
campo vettoriale	vector field
campo conservativo	conservative vector field
potenziale	potential function
dominio semplicemente connesso	simply connected domain
teorema di Green	Green’s theorem
integrale doppio	double integral
dominio normale	normal domain	A region bounded by two graphs over an interval; English texts say type I or type II region.
cambiamento di variabili	change of variables
flusso	flux
divergenza	divergence
rotore	curl
teorema della divergenza	divergence theorem / Gauss’s theorem
teorema di Stokes	Stokes’ theorem
convergenza puntuale	pointwise convergence
convergenza uniforme	uniform convergence
convergenza totale	normal convergence	Convergence of the series of sup norms, the Weierstrass M-test in English texts.
serie di potenze	power series
raggio di convergenza	radius of convergence
serie di Fourier	Fourier series

Algebra lineare

Italiano	Inglese	Nota
vettore	vector
versore	unit vector
prodotto scalare	dot product / inner product
prodotto vettoriale	cross product
matrice	matrix
matrice trasposta	transpose
matrice inversa	inverse matrix
determinante	determinant
sviluppo di Laplace	cofactor expansion / Laplace expansion
rango	rank
riduzione a scala	row reduction / row echelon form
sistema lineare	linear system / system of linear equations
teorema di Rouché-Capelli	Rouché-Capelli theorem	English textbooks state it without a name: a system is consistent if and only if the coefficient matrix and the augmented matrix have the same rank.
regola di Cramer	Cramer’s rule
spazio vettoriale	vector space
linearmente indipendenti	linearly independent
base	basis
dimensione	dimension
applicazione lineare	linear map / linear transformation
nucleo	kernel / null space
immagine	image / column space
teorema della dimensione	rank-nullity theorem
autovalore	eigenvalue
autovettore	eigenvector
diagonalizzazione	diagonalization
base ortonormale	orthonormal basis
procedimento di Gram-Schmidt	Gram-Schmidt process
matrice ortogonale	orthogonal matrix
teorema spettrale	spectral theorem
forma quadratica	quadratic form
rette sghembe	skew lines
quadrica	quadric

Fisica

Italiano	Inglese	Nota
legge oraria	equation of motion / position as a function of time	The function x(t); English has no single standard term.
moto rettilineo uniforme	uniform motion in a straight line / constant-velocity motion
moto uniformemente accelerato	uniformly accelerated motion / constant-acceleration motion
moto del proiettile	projectile motion
moto circolare uniforme	uniform circular motion
principi della dinamica	Newton’s laws of motion	Italian numbers them primo, secondo and terzo principio; English says Newton’s first, second and third law.
reazione vincolare	normal force / constraint force
attrito radente	sliding friction / kinetic friction
forza elastica	spring force / elastic force
lavoro	work
potenza	power
energia cinetica	kinetic energy
energia potenziale	potential energy
quantità di moto	momentum / linear momentum
urto elastico	elastic collision
urto anelastico	inelastic collision
moto armonico	simple harmonic motion
corpo rigido	rigid body
momento di una forza	torque	Italian momento (or momento meccanico) corresponds to torque; English uses moment mainly in statics.
momento angolare	angular momentum
momento d’inerzia	moment of inertia
gas perfetto	ideal gas
carica elettrica	electric charge
legge di Coulomb	Coulomb’s law
campo elettrico	electric field
flusso del campo elettrico	electric flux
legge di Gauss	Gauss’s law
potenziale elettrico	electric potential
differenza di potenziale	potential difference / voltage
condensatore	capacitor
capacità	capacitance
corrente elettrica	electric current
resistenza	resistance
forza elettromotrice	electromotive force (emf)
leggi di Kirchhoff	Kirchhoff’s laws
campo magnetico	magnetic field
forza di Lorentz	Lorentz force
teorema di Ampère	Ampère’s law
circuitazione	circulation / line integral around a closed path
induzione elettromagnetica	electromagnetic induction
legge di Faraday-Neumann-Lenz	Faraday’s law of induction	English texts say Faraday’s law and treat Lenz’s law separately for the sign.
induttanza	inductance
equazioni di Maxwell	Maxwell’s equations