Re: decimal point/comma (was conplaneteering)
| From: | scott <sjcaldwell@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, February 18, 2005, 13:44 |
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On Feb 18, 2005, at 3:19 AM, Geoff Horswood wrote:
>> Mark J. Reed wrote:
>>> Which reminds me - where did the × and ÷ symbols come from?
> I'm no mathematician, but I always assumed that × used to be the
> conventional multiplication sign up until the advent of computers,
> when it
> was replaced by * to avoid confusion with x. But thinking about it
> again,
> that can't be right, as people were doing algebra long before there
> were
> computers...
Yep. x and ÷ (obelus) were used in the 1600s, IIRC. Gee, I'm finally
getting
use out of my Bachelor of Mathematics. :-)
http://members.aol.com/jeff570/operation.html gives some history
on the symbols of operation if you are interested.
scott
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