Re: decimal point/comma (was conplaneteering)

On Fri, Feb 18, 2005 at 03:19:35AM -0500, Geoff Horswood wrote:
> 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.
Nope, Computers almost certainly *are* responsible for the use of the
asterisk for mutliplication - not because of confusion, but because
there was only so much room in early character sets and × and ÷ didn't
make the cut.  But in typeset mathematics books long
before computers, multiplication was indicated by either simple
juxtaposition or a dot.  As I said, I've personally never seen
× and ÷ anywhere other than in early-grade workbooks and on calculator
keys.

-Marcos