Inventors of Mathematical Operation Symbols
The basic mathematical operations Symbols used in math help us work with mathematical concepts in theoretical manner. The mathematical signs and operation symbols are considered representative of the value. The basic symbols in math are used to express mathematical thoughts. Without mathematical symbols, we can’t do mathematics. Now the question arises in our minds as to who invented these mathematical symbols. In this article, we listed some of the inventors of symbols from different sources (research papers, books, journal article, etc.). listed below-
Addition (+): Plus symbol is believed to have been first used by the ancient Babylonians , around 1800 BC.
Subtraction (-): The minus symbol was first used by the 6th century Indian mathematician and astronomer Brahmagupta (598-668 CE).
Multiplication (×): The multiplication symbol is believed to have been first used by the English mathematician William Oughtred in the 17th century.
Division (÷): The division symbol was first used by the Swiss mathematician Johann Heinrich Rahn in his book Teutsche Algebra in 1659.
Exponentiation (a^n): Early in 17th century, the exponentiation notation was introduced by the French mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650) in his text titled La Géométrie.
Square root (√): The square root symbol was first used by German Mathematician Christoph Rudolff, and was popularized by the mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras.
Fraction (/): The fraction symbol was first used by the ancient Egyptians, around 2000 BC. Egyptians divided with fractions using slightly different methods.
Equal sign (=): The equal sign was introduced by the Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde in the 16th century.
Infinity (∞): The infinity symbol (∞) was first used by John Wallis, an English mathematician, in the mid-17th century.
Summation (∑) and Product (∏): The summation symbol (∑) and product symbol (∏) were first used by Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician, in the mid-18th century.
Greater than (>), less than (<): The inequality symbols were first used by the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes in the 17th century.
Integral (∫): The integral symbol was introduced by the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the 17th century.
Limit (lim): The limit symbol was first used by Augustin-Louis Cauchy, a French mathematician, in the early 19th century.
