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Nov 2, 2017 23:29
6 yrs ago
English term

Time, top left, is x-axis value at right-hand origin [caption]

Non-PRO English to French Science IT (Information Technology)
Dear fellow translators,

I'm stuck with the translation of the caption of this picture (https://www.darktrace.com/img/blog/blog-drawing-pads-2.jpg): "Time, top left, is x-axis value at right-hand origin", especially the last part. My understanding is that time is shown at the top-left corner of the figure, that it is the x-axis of the figure, but I don't get the rest of the sentence. Should there be a period after the word "axis"?

So, here's my try: "L'heure, en haut à gauche, sert d'abscisse à la figure, tandis que les valeurs affichées sur la droite servent de point d'origine". (but origin would be a base point or reference mark, then, right?)

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that this is not correct and I would really appreciate your help!

Thanks a lot
Proposed translations (French)
4 Le temps, en haut à gauche, est la valeur à l'extrême droite de l'axe horizontal
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (1): Daryo

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Discussion

Daryo Nov 4, 2017:
strictly speaking it might well be a "moving origin", but the right end of the horizontal axis is still "the origin" - it represent the "zero point in time" / "the present time" from the viewpoint of the algorithms used by this software, the "origin" from which is counted the future, and especially the past, from which past this software tries to extract patterns of behaviour. https://www.darktrace.com/technology/ -

Having said that, this graphic doesn't exist in splendid isolation in the middle of nowhere. Depending on the text surrounding it, for consistency in style, you could stick literally to the wording used, or put some shorter / simpler version.
gihene (asker) Nov 3, 2017:
Wow, I didn't expect that many answers! Thank you for enlightening me
Thomas T. Frost Nov 3, 2017:
Origin and @Tony @Tony Right, I can agree with that reasoning. That's how the graph is defined. But from a reader's point, I think most would say the x axis goes forwards, not backwards, as they are not concerned with defining the axis.

As for "origin", it should, in principle, have a 0 coordinate. However, Oxford defines it as "A fixed point from which coordinates are measured." But I think the text would be easier to understand without the word “origin”, which is why I left it out of my answer.
Anne Bohy Nov 3, 2017:
Should we suppress the word "origin"? In Mathematics, an origin has a 0 coordinate, which is not the case here. Without this word, we can say that the Time value at the top left corner is the right-end value on the x-axis (the end-time of the period displayed on the graph).
Tony M Nov 3, 2017:
@ Thomas That's the whole point of why the source text is worded the way it is!
If we consider that, unusually, the RIGHT-hand end is the origin of the x-axis, then the time does indeed run backwards from that point (i.e. right to left)
Hence why the source text had to explain it using 'origin'.
Thomas T. Frost Nov 3, 2017:
@Tony I now see what you mean when you say the x axis runs backwards, but I think this wording is misleading. The values on the x axis clearly run forwards, as they should. The date and time upper left just show the end of the period displayed. The graph probably always shows the last 168 hours (7 days). This doesn’t mean that anything runs backwards, though. You could say that to determine the starting point, you have to go 168 hours back from the current time, of course. Splitting hairs, perhaps.
Tony M Nov 3, 2017:
@ Bohy I don't think there is any confusion of left or right here: I believe as this is a 'history' kind of situation, the x-axis simply runs 'backwards' from the 'current time' (i.e. that marked at the top left, which presumably changes dynamically), in such a way that the graph always shows the results for the 'lastX days' (etc.)
Anne Bohy Nov 3, 2017:
Is the author confusing left and right? I agree with Tony... but I wonder if "right-hand origin" is not actually "left-hand origin", as time progression is obviously from left to right (we can see that with the days of the week indicated below the x-axis).
Philippe Etienne Nov 3, 2017:
historique en effet Transmettons le sens plutôt que les mots
Tony M Nov 3, 2017:
@ Asker (2) I think you need to consider it for translation as if it were written:
'The y-values on the right-hand side are plotted againsl time along the x-axis, the origin of which, at the bottom right-hand corner, is the time shown at top left.'
Tony M Nov 3, 2017:
@ Asker Sounds like very poor, non-native EN to me!
They are clearly trying to say that the time stamp given at the top left is the origin for the x-axis, which works back from 'current time', starting on the bottom right-hand corner — usually, the x-axis by convention starts at the bottom LEFT corner, but as this seems to be some kind of 'history', it simply works back from 'current time'
And I think they mean that 'time' is the x-axis for the values shown on the right-hand y-axis. It would also seem to be the same for the left-hand y-axis, but they have for some reason chosen not to mention that.
So to re-work your own suggestion, I'd think it might be something along these lines:
« l'abscisse de la figure est le temps, la valeur de l'heure en haut à gauche donnant l'origine en bas à droite »

Proposed translations

1 day 8 hrs
Selected

Le temps, en haut à gauche, est la valeur à l'extrême droite de l'axe horizontal

Le temps, en haut à gauche, est la valeur à l'extrême droite de l'axe horizontal

https://www.darktrace.com/img/blog/blog-drawing-pads-2.jpg
this is a graphic covering exactly one week, ending with the time (date and hour) indicated in the top left corner.

You can find this kind of graphic representation in many applications, showing the variations of some variable during a time interval of fixed duration, ending in the "present" (i.e. the time shown in the top left corner): if you leave it on the screen, it keeps scrolling to "the past" always ending in the current time, showing the last 30 min of CPU temperature or last 24 hours of Internet usage or ...

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Note added at 1 day23 hrs (2017-11-04 22:29:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

shortest version - containing ALL essential information:

En haut à gauche: le temps à l'extrême droite de l'axe horizontal

sticking to the ST:

Le temps, affiché en haut a gauche, est la valeur sur l'axe des x à son origine du côté droit


Un plan cartésien est un plan formé de deux droites numériques perpendiculaires nommées axes.
La droite numérique horizontale s'appelle l'axe des abscisses ou l'axe des x.
La droite numérique verticale s'appelle l'axe des ordonnées ou l'axe des y.


http://www.cslaval.qc.ca/sitsatlll/maths2003/texte1.gif

http://www.cslaval.qc.ca/sitsatlll/maths2003/cartesien.html
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