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If I want to write the word "n-th" (as in n-th solution, n-th derivative,...), is it more conventional to write n-ый/n-ая/n-ое or n-й/n-я/n-е, or are both styles equally common? In terms of pronunciation, is it always э́ный/э́ная/э́ное (e.g., someone who writes n-я wouldn't actually say that as э́ня)?

EDIT: I found out later that for every variable x it's acceptable to express "x-th" as "xтый" (e.g., m-ый = эмтый, n-ый = энтый, j-ый = житый, q-ый = кутый), and since this works in all cases while the ending -ный for n-ый doesn't apply to variables ending with a vowel sound, I'll use the -тый version.

KCd
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2 Answers2

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While both written styles are grammatically correct, the more common one is

n-ый, -ая, -ое, -ые

In addition, you could see sometimes the n- part spelled out in Russian as:

энный, энная, энное, энные

The pronunciation in all cases would be

э́нный / э́нная / э́нное / э́нные

(Note the double н)

pronunciation э́ня is wrong and it's more than likely that people will not understand what you're referring to.

Aleks G
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  • +1 But what about энтый? Would you say it's incorrect? It is definitely common. – Armen Tsirunyan Jun 25 '12 at 16:42
  • Aleks G, thanks! Is n-ый declined exactly like частный with the root эн in place of the root част? – KCd Jun 25 '12 at 16:45
  • @KCd Yes, declension is exactly as in частный – Aleks G Jun 25 '12 at 16:49
  • @ArmenTsirunyan энтый and its sibling-option ентый are colloquial of этот - quite a difference, I'd say. – Aleks G Jun 25 '12 at 16:51
  • Armen: related to your comment, I frequently heard in lectures the notation like a_i or x_i pronounced as "а итое" and "икс итое", or something close to that. A mathematician from St. Petersburg told me in this particular setting that is wrong and those should be "a и" and "икс и". But of course one might want to say i-th in some other situation. I'll add something about that to my question. – KCd Jun 25 '12 at 16:52
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    @AleksG: Obviously I mean энтый meaning n-ый, similar to итый, катый, etc. Do you mean to say that you've never heard something like энтый член последовательности? – Armen Tsirunyan Jun 25 '12 at 17:03
  • @ArmenTsirunyan Frankly, no, but I'm always willing to learn something new :) (and I went to a мехмат in Kharkiv University, although was good 20 years ago) – Aleks G Jun 25 '12 at 17:05
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    @AleksG: By the way, "n-th root" in the sense of algebra has to be translated as корень энной степени, never as энный корень, right? – KCd Jun 25 '12 at 17:46
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    @KCd That's correct. – Karlson Jun 25 '12 at 18:44
  • @KCd That is correct. Энный корень would refer to a root with sequential number N. – Aleks G Jun 25 '12 at 20:14
  • @ArmenTsirunyan : No, I have definitely never heard "энтый" instead of "энный". Probably a regional thing, i.e. not used in Moscow but the farther you go the more variations are expected to be found. Obviously, it is an inherited construction: if I always hear "i-тый", "k-тый", "n-ный" that's exactly what I am going to use if I become a professor myself. And then my students and so on. I still cringe when people use "проектировать" instead of "проецировать" even though it is technically correct — that's how strong the habit is. – Shady_arc Jun 07 '14 at 10:07
  • @AleksG By the way, qworin is right. I checked it on gramota.ru : it is indeed recommended to use a shorter ending than some people do. Of course, the other way of spelling is also widespread, while not considered a good style. – Shady_arc Oct 31 '14 at 11:14
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The grammatically correct form is only n-й. Acoording to entrenched tradition accretion suffix must be one-letter if the last letter of numeral follows by vowel: 5-й день (пятый день), 25-я годовщина (двадцать пятая годовщина), в 14-м ряду (в четырнадцатом ряду). It must be two-letter if the last letter of numeral follows by consonant: 5-го дня (пятого дня), к 25-му студенту (к двадцать пятому студенту), из 14-го ряда (из четырнадцатого ряда). Spelling n-ый is incorrect, but widely used. Sad but true; it is common mistake. Accretion suffixes for variables also comply these rules.

qworin
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  • Thanks. So if the last two letters are xy then you write n-y if x is vowel and -xy if x is a consonant. – KCd Oct 31 '14 at 19:04