mathematics - How did the obelus ÷ come to stand for division ...
The formula with the obelus is merely tabulated by Rahn with no text, and if the motivation was known, Cajori would have mentioned it in History Of Mathematical Notations, which is a classical treatise. It is likely that Rahn (or Pell) simply repurposed the minus sign symbol, it was used from Riese's algebra textbook (1525) onward.
How did the definition of each "ordered set" come about?
I could get a little intuition about preset, poset, and toset. e.g. A toset is, in effect, a linearly ordered set, and a poset is a set in which no more than one element in the same order exists,
How did the theory of the Horus-eye fractions originate?
2015年6月15日 · In a book, I saw a short anecdote about something called the "Horus-eye" hieroglyph, supposedly used in parts to represent fractions (the book dates to 1997). Wikipedia has an article on the symbol...
How did Hindu-Arabic Numerals get their shapes?
2023年11月5日 · I’ve noticed a recurring post on social media that presents an image suggesting the shapes of Hindu-Arabic numerals are connected to the angles within their design: This claim seems dubious to me....
Why choose symbol $\\sum$ to be the summation operator in …
AFAIK there's rare evidence to show that $\\sum$ has the meaning of "sum" in Greek, so why mathematician chose $\\sum$ to be the summation operator?
What does the "G" for the similitude groups stand for?
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How did Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams end up so confusing?
2020年9月22日 · HR diagrams show in which of several sequences individual stars fall, each respecting the rough principle that hotter stars are of higher luminosity. (Sequences other than the main sequence may ben...
When did contemporary practices for indicating ecliptic longitude ...
2021年8月28日 · Ecliptic longitude may be expressed in degrees; my understanding is that prior to the 19th century, expressions of ecliptic longitude contained zodiacal signs. What contemporaneous accounts describ...
Dimension of the candela unit: What does J stand for?
2019年8月3日 · The J symbol can represent the unit of energy but it's also the symbol for the dimension of the candela (or luminous intensity). For the energy unit, it clearly comes from the family name of the E...
Who introduced the mixed fraction notation? - History of Science …
2022年11月11日 · Who introduced mixed fraction notation? This notion is a source of confusion to me because it may be interpreted as multiplication. Please don't write in ALL-CAPS. I would guess notation 212 2 1 2 is far, far older than juxtaposition for multiplication. And older than decimals 2.5 2.5 for fractions.