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Here are ten things I’ve learned from reading Joseph Mazur’s “Enlightening symbols”: #mathreads #historyofmath
1. Mathematical symbols are relatively recent creations. Many of the symbols we use today took form in the 1400s-1600s.
1. Mathematical symbols are relatively recent creations. Many of the symbols we use today took form in the 1400s-1600s.
2. From the beginning mathematics was rhetorical. Even the numbers themselves were often written as words. With time, common mathematical words were abbreviated, by omitting letters, thereby becoming a sort of symbols. For instance, p instead of plus and m instead of minus.
3. Exactly how the numerals we used today evolved, is very uncertain. There is little archeological evidence. What we do know is that the idea of our decimal system was transferred from India to the arabs and on to Europe.
