核心畫面
Two things on a balance that come out level, even though they are not the same thing at all — a British A-level and a 學測, a dollar amount and a pile of yen, a word in one language and a word in another. Not identical; equal in what they are worth or what they do.
可以想成：天平兩端各放一樣東西，指針停在正中間——但兩邊根本不是同一種東西：英國的 A-level 和台灣的學測、一…更多收起
可以想成：天平兩端各放一樣東西，指針停在正中間——但兩邊根本不是同一種東西：英國的 A-level 和台灣的學測、一筆美金和一疊日圓、一個英文字和一個中文詞。重點不是「長得一樣」，而是「份量或作用相當」。這正是它跟 same 的差別：same 是同一種，equivalent 是不同種但等值。原始詞典資料10 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
equivalentadj/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/
- 1
Similar or identical in value, meaning or effect; virtually equal.
- To burn calories, a thirty-minute jog is equivalent to a couple of hamburgers.
- For now to serve and to minister, servile and ministerial, are terms equivalent.
- 2
mathematicssciencesOf two sets, having a one-to-one correspondence.
- All enumerable sets are equivalent to each other, but not to any finite set.
- Equivalent sets should, by rights, have the same "number" of elements. For this reason we sometimes say that equivalent sets have the same cardinality.
- 3
mathematicssciencesRelating to the corresponding elements of an equivalence relation.
- 4
category-theorycomputingengineeringOf two categories, (informally) such that one is essentially a relabeling of the other; (formally) related by a pair of functors such the composition of the one with the other is naturally isomorphic to the identity functor.
- 5
chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesHaving the equal ability to combine.
- 6
cartographygeographynatural-sciencesOf a map, equal-area.
- 7
geometrymathematicssciencesEqual in measure but not admitting of superposition; applied to magnitudes.
- A square may be equivalent to a triangle.
equivalentnoun/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/
- 1
Anything that is virtually equal to something else, or has the same value, force, etc.
- He owned that, if the Test Act were repealed, the Protestants were entitled to an equivalent, and went so far as to suggest several equivalents.
- Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" — except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.
- 2
chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesAn equivalent weight.
equivalentverb/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/
- 1
To make equivalent to; to equal.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。