# What is the gender of $K(\pi,n)$ in French?

This is a kind of silly question, but I don't know where else to ask. Suppose I wanted to say "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" but with $K(\pi,n)$ substituted for "pipe." Would the article be "un" or "une"?

In case there are additional complications in the translation: What would be the French for "This is not a $K(\pi,n)$," where "this" refers to a picture over/under/beside the text?

• What is $K(\pi,n)$ ? Oct 23 '12 at 23:43
• Maybe it is better to say "Ceci n'est pas un espace $K(\pi,n).$ Oct 23 '12 at 23:49
• @Phira: an Eilenberg-Maclane space.
– zyx
Oct 23 '12 at 23:53
• But maybe "un $K(\pi,n)$" works, suppressing "espace", which would be understood. Oct 23 '12 at 23:57
• You should check Serre's foundational paper on the homotopy groups of spheres! (I'd imagine it's in French?) Oct 24 '12 at 0:30

Ceci n'est pas un $\triangle$ beside the picture of a square, but one could say
"Voici la $\mathscr{L}(cos(t))$" besides the expression of $\cos(t)'s$ Laplace transform.
• So if I wanted to say "this is not a $K(\mathbb Z,1)$" beside a picture of a circle (which is, incidentally, a $K(\mathbb Z,1)$), would I use the gender for espace, cercle, or the letter K? (I guess in this case they are all the same, but I'd like to know how this works.) Oct 24 '12 at 0:23
• Well, you'd be correct since it's just a picture of a $K(\mathbb{Z},1)$. Oct 24 '12 at 0:27
• From your comment underneath your question, you say $K(Z,1)$ is a Maclane space, so in french, Un espace de Maclane. You would say Ceci n'est pas un $K(Z,1)$ Oct 24 '12 at 0:34
Espace and K both take "un".$\quad$