I have been playing chess for about 15 years now and i just wanted to know why when you move your knight to f3(for example) the move is listed as Nf3 and not Knf3.  Whose idea was it to make it listed as N and not something else?  Just throwing it out there to discuss.

Same answer as why in chemistry, gold symbol is Au and not Go? Now tell me why is that?

 

If you're a founder or creator of something, you call it whatever you want. 

I heard someone decided not to use the "K" for the Knight to make it easier to tell it apart from the King. I agree, it makes sense.

It's another manifestation of the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) method. The less effort it takes to go clearly from point A to point B- the better.The fewer letters it has- the less complicated it will seem, the fewer the moving parts it has the fewer the maintenance issues, etc. Of course they could have just used H for horse but I guess they thought that was going a little too far.

In old descriptive notation, it was Kt for a knight. I'm not sure why the change, but weirdly, when it was 2 letters, it never was Kn.

jabez_ariel wrote:

Same answer as why in chemistry, gold symbol is Au and not Go? Now tell me why is that?

 

If you're a founder or creator of something, you call it whatever you want. 

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Not really the same answer. Gold is Au because the symbol is derived from a different language (Latin, in this case), while Knight is N in order to avoid confusion with the K of King.

Haha i stand corrected. Yeah I know its from a latin word aurum. Another question is why Au? Not Go? Or any possible symbols? Then it comes to the conclusion that the founder of that symbol names it that way.

N for knight While K for king is a very obvious reason to tell them apart. No question about that.

cofoppyplop wrote: Of course they could have just used H for horse but I guess they thought that was going a little too far.

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 ROFL! That was fucking hilarious man! Really cracked me up :D

I think its phonetic, to avoid confusion with king. Yeah, Au, is short for aurum, which is latin for gold.

I use M  for mule 

jabez_ariel wrote: Haha i stand corrected. Yeah I know its from a latin word aurum. Another question is why Au? Not Go? Or any possible symbols? Then it comes to the conclusion that the founder of that symbol names it that way.

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In ths case it's a matter of historical and geographical context. English was not as dominant a language as it is today when Mendeleev published his periodic table, and it had very little use in Russian society. He generally used Latin and Greek terms when assigning symbols to elements known since ancient times so that the symbols would be more universally relevant. 

cofoppyplop wrote: It's another manifestation of the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) method. The less effort it takes to go clearly from point A to point B- the better.The fewer letters it has- the less complicated it will seem, the fewer the moving parts it has the fewer the maintenance issues, etc. Of course they could have just used H for horse but I guess they thought that was going a little too far.

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H — now why didn't I think of that?

HowDoesTheHorseMove wrote: jabez_ariel wrote: Haha i stand corrected. Yeah I know its from a latin word aurum. Another question is why Au? Not Go? Or any possible symbols? Then it comes to the conclusion that the founder of that symbol names it that way.

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In ths case it's a matter of historical and geographical context. English was not as dominant a language as it is today when Mendeleev published his periodic table, and it had very little use in Russian society. He generally used Latin and Greek terms when assigning symbols to elements known since ancient times so that the symbols would be more universally relevant. 

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Haha! Enough with the geeky talk already. French, latin, spanish, russian, whatever origin...

 

Now tell me why Strontium's symbol isnt St? Why is it Sr? There's no other element in the periodic table with an St symbol!

 

 I said it twice and I'll say it again, the founder(s) who ever he or she or they name a symbol for a thing...

So there can be no confusion as to whether a kNight or King was moved, and because it is quicker and easier to use single letters for notation than double letters.

If you discover an element, you call it anything you want. And make a 2 or 1 letter symbol thats unique to the rest. See what I mean?

the correct notation is actually S for Springer it's German or something but N is just so people don't get confused.

We do not all  know the real reasons why N is for Knight not Kn ,but we can make intelligent guess on the matter which i believe due to the following grounds:

1.All major n minor pieces are represented with the single and first letter of their names.

2. The king is already represented with letter K so it would be confusing if another piece will use it.

3.The knight is pronounced with a silent k,thus it sounds as night with first letter N and obviously that's where the N for knight came about.

Speaking of elements, whoever discovers the next one should use Jq as its atomic symbol, since those are the only letters not on the periodic table.

 

Fun fact! 

jabez_ariel wrote: If you discover an element, you call it anything you want. And make a 2 or 1 letter symbol thats unique to the rest. See what I mean?

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Incorrect. Newly discovered elements are typically named according to their atomic numbers until such time as IUPAC can decide on an official name. For example, the 104th element was called unnilquadrium (un-nil-quad = 1-0-4) before IUPAC decided on the name Rutherfordium (after Ernest Rutherford).