Translation

translation

Maths a transformation in which the origin of a coordinate system is moved to another position so that each axis retains the same direction or, equivalently, a figure or curve is moved so that it retains the same orientation to the axes
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Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Translation

The movement of a point in space without rotation.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

translation

the transformation of SIGNS and meanings, (especially languages), where these are initially unknown or alien, into a known and familiar set of signs and meanings. The question of the extent to which the ideas and language of one society or culture can have an adequate expression in the language of another society or culture has been an especially important one in SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY (e.g. see SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS). Issues also arise in sociology, especially where it is assumed that its subject matter is SEMIOTIC and meaningful, i.e. made up of SIGNS, so that an unknown society or set of social interactions is like an unknown language and the main task is one of translation. Quine (1960) has argued that any translation is in principle ‘indeterminate’, that any set of signs can equally well be translated by an indefinite list of alternative possibilities. Davidson (1984) suggests that this leaves no alternative other than a ‘principle of charity’, which assumes that others and their signs will resemble us and our own signs. However, the effect of questions raised about the indeterminacy of translation is to puncture any simple assumptions about ready translation or objectivity in social science. See also RELATIVISM, INCOMMENSURABILITY, FORMS OF LIFE, WITTGENSTEIN.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

translation

[tran′slā·shən]

(mathematics)

A function changing the coordinates of a point in a euclidean space into new coordinates relative to axes parallel to the original.

A function on a group to itself given by operating on each element by some one fixed element.

Let E be a finitely generated extension of a field k, F be an extension of k, and both E and F be contained in a common field; the translation of E to F is the extension EF of F, where EF is the compositum of E and F. Also known as lifting.

(mechanics)

The linear movement of a point in space without any rotation.

(cell and molecular biology)

The process by which the linear sequence of nucleotides in a molecule of messenger ribonucleic acid directs the specific linear sequence of amino acids, as during protein synthesis.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

translation

A linear displacement; in kinematics, a motion of a body such that a set of rectangular axes, fixed in the body, remains parallel to a set of axes fixed in space.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Translation

 

a transformation of space or a part of space —for example, a passage from one figure to another—wherein all the points are shifted the same distance in the same direction. The set of all translations both in the plane and in space forms a group.

In Euclidean geometry this group is a subgroup of the group of motions; in affine geometry it is a subgroup of the group of affine transformations.

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Translation

 

in biology, the biosynthesis of polypeptide chains of proteins in living cells. It consists in the deciphering of the genetic information coded in the form of the sequence of nucleotides in molecules of messenger (matrix) ribonucleic acids (iRNA or mRNA). The nucleotide sequence of iRNA determines the sequence of amino acids in the synthesized proteins.

Translation is achieved by means of intracellular particles called ribosomes, which are bonded with iRNA and activated amino-acid derivatives (aa-tRNAs) of transfer RNAs. The aa-tRNAs “recognize” certain nucleotide trios (codons) in the iRNAs that correspond to the amino acids bonded to these codons. Recognition occurs owing to the complementary interaction of the codon of iRNA with an anticodon (a trio of nucleotides that is complementary to the codon) of tRNA.

The polypeptide chain of the protein is synthesized in the peptidyl-transferase center of the ribosome, which is divided into peptidyl and amino-acid areas. The peptidyl area serves to bond tRNA, to which the growing polypeptide (peptidyl-tRNA) is attached; the amino-acid area serves to bond aa-tRNA. The pep-tide bond that unites amino-acid radicals in proteins is formed owing to the reaction of the terminal carboxyl group (—COOH) of the peptide in peptidyl-tRNA, with the amino group (—NH₂) of the amino acid in aa-tRN A₂.

After the peptide bond is formed, the peptide chain becomes bonded with tRNA₂, which is located in the amino-acid area. Subsequently, peptidyl-tRNA₂ moves to the peptidyl area and expels the free tRNA₁. At the same time, the iRNA shifts by one codon in relation to the ribosome. Then a new aa-tRNA is bonded to the amino-acid area of the ribosome, and so on. During translation the ribosome moves along the chain of iRNA; this movement is accompanied by the sequential assembly of amino acids into a polypeptide, beginning at the amino end of the chain (the N terminus) and concluding at the carboxyl end (C terminus). This stage of translation, called elongation, differs in mechanism from the initiation and termination of translation, the signals for which are the bondings of corresponding codons of iRNA with the ribosome.

All stages of translation are catalyzed by specific protein factors and guanosine triphosphate (GTP). The role of these catalyzers in the translation process may be assumed not only by cellular and RNA protein factors but by viral RNAs and synthetic polynucleotides. This is widely taken into account in studying the biosynthesis of protein in acellular systems.

REFERENCES

Spirin, A. S., and L. P. Gavrilova. Ribosoma, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1971.
Molekuliarnye osnovy biosinteza belkov. Moscow, 1971.
Lehninger, A. Biokhimiia. Moscow, 1974. Chapter 30. (Translated from English.)

A. A. BOGDANOV

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Translation

 

the displacement of a physical or mathematical object parallel to itself in space over some distance a along a straight line called the axis of translation. A translation is completely characterized by the vector a.

If a translation carries an object into itself, the translation is a symmetry operation. Such translations are inherent in objects that are periodic in one, two, or three dimensions. Examples of such objects are ornamental borders, wallpaper, and, on a microscopic scale, crystals and chain molecules of polymers.

The theory of translational symmetry plays an important role in crystallography and solid-state physics. For example, the theory makes it possible to study the properties of wave functions of electrons in crystals and to establish the space groups of crystal symmetry. In order to describe the properties of crystals, it is convenient to choose three translations along the edges of the unit cell as unit vectors (seeSYMMETRY OF CRYSTALS).

The concept of translation is applicable to multidimensional coordinate spaces and to other kinds of spaces, such as quasi-momentum space (seeSOLID) and phase space.

A. A. GUSEV

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.