ASTRONOMICAL REFERENCES IN TEXT-BOOKS ON PHYSICS

References in Narrative Text

The propositional content of a reference is the proposition attributing to the referent the properties that correspond to the nouns and modiiers in the reference (for example, the propositional content of`Mary' is that the referent is named`Mary'). During language comprehension, the hearer or reader must determine the set of beliefs with respect to which the propositional content of a reference...

Astronomical reach of fundamental physics.

Using basic physical arguments, we derive by dimensional and physical analysis the characteristic masses and sizes of important objects in the universe in terms of just a few fundamental constants. This exercise illustrates the unifying power of physics and the profound connections between the small and the large in the cosmos we inhabit. We focus on the minimum and maximum masses of normal sta...

The role of references in the astronomical discourse

We have counted the number of references in 1179 papers published in Astronomy and Astrophysics over twenty years. The number of references has increased by 60% between 1975 and 1995, reflecting the increase (by the same amount) of the literature which must be cited, and of the number of pages per paper. There are 1.5 timesmore references in predominantly observational fields than in others. Re...

On the Evaluation of Lexical Profiles in the Iranian High School and University EFL Text Books

Time references in US and UK astronomical and navigational almanacs

An astronomical or navigational almanac can best be thought of as a device for connecting an observer with celestial objects. For an observer with a known position and time the almanac allows the observer to identify the celestial objects. Conversely, if the observer knows what objects he is observing and when, the almanac allows him to determine his position. In either case, knowledge of the t...