核心畫面

One picture carries both uses: several different things, and you are hunting for the one floor they can all stand on. In arithmetic that floor is a number — the smallest bottom number that every fraction can be rewritten over. Outside arithmetic the things are people, and the floor is the level of taste, knowledge or effort that the whole crowd already shares. Either way, making everyone fit means coming down to the part nobody is left out of.

兩個意思可以想成同一個畫面:一堆不一樣的東西,你在找一個大家都站得上去的地板。在算數裡,那個地板是一個數字——每個分更多收起兩個意思可以想成同一個畫面:一堆不一樣的東西,你在找一個大家都站得上去的地板。在算數裡,那個地板是一個數字——每個分數都能改寫成的那個共同分母,而且要最小的那個。走出算數,那堆東西換成一群人,地板就變成全場都已經懂、都能接受的那個程度。兩邊的道理一樣:要讓所有人都放得進來,就得降到沒有人被排除在外的那一層。

Two branches

算式裡的最小公分母

這是畫面最原始、也最看得見的樣子:地板就是一個實際的數字。

noun · B2

In maths, the smallest number that the bottom number of every fraction in a group can divide into exactly, so that the fractions can be added, taken away or compared.

最小公分母

為了人多而往下靠的那一層

把分數換成人,把數字換成程度,同一個「找共同底」的動作就變成了迎合大眾。

noun · C1

The simplest or lowest level that a very large group of people will all accept, used when something is made plain, easy or cheap so that it can reach as many people as possible. It usually sounds critical.

最低共通水準(迎合大眾)