[Maths-Education] RE: Group Theory and Soduko

[Peter Cave]

It's sudoku, not soduko (though for some reason almost everyone I've met in Britain seems to pronounce it as 'sadooku'). 'Su' means 'number' ('mathematics' in Japanese is 'sugaku', literally the study of numbers, though in practice of course 'sugaku' actually includes other areas of maths). 'Doku' means 'alone', 'isolated', among other things. The 'u' in 'su' is a long sound, while the 'o' in 'doku' is short, so actually it's pronounced 'soodoku', more or less.

Peter Cave
Lecturer in Japanese Studies
School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures
University of Manchester
Samuel Alexander Building
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PT
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3195
Fax: +44 (0)161 275 3031
Email: peter.cave at manchester.ac.uk
www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/east-asian/staff/Cave/