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The Whetstone Of Witte
''The Whetstone of Witte'' is the shortened title of Robert Recorde's mathematics book published in 1557, the full title being ''The whetstone of , is the : The ''Coßike'' practise, with the rule of ''Equation'': and the of ''Surde Nombers. The book covers topics including whole numbers, the extraction of roots and irrational numbers. The work is notable for containing the first recorded use of the equals sign and also for being the first book in English to use the plus and minus signs. Recordian notation for exponentiation, however, differed from the later Cartesian notation p^q = p \times p \times p \cdots \times p. Recorde expressed indices and surds larger than 3 in a systematic form based on the prime factorization of the exponent: a factor of two he termed a ''zenzic'', and a factor of three, a ''cubic''. Recorde termed the larger prime numbers appearing in this factorization ''sursolids'', distinguishing between them by use of ordinal numbers: that is, he defined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recorde - The Whetstone Of Witte - Equals
Robert Recorde () was a Welsh physician and mathematician. He invented the equals sign (=) and also introduced the pre-existing plus (+) and minus (−) signs to English speakers in 1557. Biography Born around 1510, Robert Recorde was the second and last son of Thomas and Rose Recorde of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, in Wales. Recorde entered the University of Oxford about 1525, and was elected a Fellow of All Souls College there in 1531. Having adopted medicine as a profession, he went to the University of Cambridge to take the degree of M.D. in 1545. He afterwards returned to Oxford, where he publicly taught mathematics, as he had done prior to going to Cambridge. He invented the "equals" sign, which consists of two horizontal parallel lines, stating that no two things can be more equal. It appears that he afterwards went to London, and acted as physician to King Edward VI and to Queen Mary, to whom some of his books are dedicated. He was also controller of the Royal Mint and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include number theory (the study of numbers), algebra (the study of formulas and related structures), geometry (the study of shapes and spaces that contain them), Mathematical analysis, analysis (the study of continuous changes), and set theory (presently used as a foundation for all mathematics). Mathematics involves the description and manipulation of mathematical object, abstract objects that consist of either abstraction (mathematics), abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicspurely abstract entities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. Mathematics uses pure reason to proof (mathematics), prove properties of objects, a ''proof'' consisting of a succession of applications of in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equals Sign
The equals sign (British English) or equal sign (American English), also known as the equality sign, is the mathematical symbol , which is used to indicate equality. In an equation it is placed between two expressions that have the same value, or for which one studies the conditions under which they have the same value. In Unicode and ASCII it has the code point U+003D. It was invented in 1557 by the Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde. History Prior to 16th century there was no common symbol for equality, and equality was usually expressed with a word, such as ''aequales, aequantur, esgale, faciunt, ghelijck'' or ''gleich,'' and sometimes by the abbreviated form ''aeq'', or simply and . Diophantus's use of , short for ( 'equals'), in '' Arithmetica'' () is considered one of the first uses of an equals sign. The symbol, now universally accepted in mathematics for equality, was first recorded by the Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde in '' The Whetstone of Witte'' (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plus And Minus Signs
The plus sign () and the minus sign () are Glossary of mathematical symbols, mathematical symbols used to denote sign (mathematics), positive and sign (mathematics), negative functions, respectively. In addition, the symbol represents the operation of addition, which results in a Sum (mathematics), sum, while the symbol represents subtraction, resulting in a difference (mathematics), difference. Their use has been extended to many other meanings, more or less analogous. and are Latin terms meaning 'more' and 'less', respectively. The forms and are used in many countries around the world. Other designs include for plus and for minus. History Though the signs now seem as familiar as the alphabet or the Arabic numerals, they are not of great antiquity. The Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for addition, for example, resembles a pair of legs walking in the direction in which the text was written (Egyptian language, Egyptian could be written either from right to left or left to r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Factor Exponent Notation
In his 1557 work ''The Whetstone of Witte'', British mathematician Robert Recorde proposed an exponent notation by prime factorisation, which remained in use up until the eighteenth century and acquired the name ''Arabic exponent notation''. The principle of Arabic exponents was quite similar to Egyptian fractions; large exponents were broken down into smaller prime numbers. Squares and cubes were so called; prime numbers from five onwards were called ''sursolids''. Although the terms used for defining exponents differed between authors and times, the general system was the primary exponent notation until René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ... devised the Cartesian exponent notation, which is still used today. This is a list of Recorde's terms. By ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exponentiation
In mathematics, exponentiation, denoted , is an operation (mathematics), operation involving two numbers: the ''base'', , and the ''exponent'' or ''power'', . When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, is the product (mathematics), product of multiplying bases: b^n = \underbrace_.In particular, b^1=b. The exponent is usually shown as a superscript to the right of the base as or in computer code as b^n. This binary operation is often read as " to the power "; it may also be referred to as " raised to the th power", "the th power of ", or, most briefly, " to the ". The above definition of b^n immediately implies several properties, in particular the multiplication rule:There are three common notations for multiplication: x\times y is most commonly used for explicit numbers and at a very elementary level; xy is most common when variable (mathematics), variables are used; x\cdot y is used for emphasizing that one ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Notation
Mathematical notation consists of using glossary of mathematical symbols, symbols for representing operation (mathematics), operations, unspecified numbers, relation (mathematics), relations, and any other mathematical objects and assembling them into expression (mathematics), expressions and formulas. Mathematical notation is widely used in mathematics, science, and engineering for representing complex concepts and property (philosophy), properties in a concise, unambiguous, and accurate way. For example, the physicist Albert Einstein's formula E=mc^2 is the quantitative representation in mathematical notation of mass–energy equivalence. Mathematical notation was first introduced by François Viète at the end of the 16th century and largely expanded during the 17th and 18th centuries by René Descartes, Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and overall Leonhard Euler. Symbols and typeface The use of many symbols is the basis of mathematical notation. They play a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exponent
In mathematics, exponentiation, denoted , is an operation involving two numbers: the ''base'', , and the ''exponent'' or ''power'', . When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, is the product of multiplying bases: b^n = \underbrace_.In particular, b^1=b. The exponent is usually shown as a superscript to the right of the base as or in computer code as b^n. This binary operation is often read as " to the power "; it may also be referred to as " raised to the th power", "the th power of ", or, most briefly, " to the ". The above definition of b^n immediately implies several properties, in particular the multiplication rule:There are three common notations for multiplication: x\times y is most commonly used for explicit numbers and at a very elementary level; xy is most common when variables are used; x\cdot y is used for emphasizing that one talks of multiplication or when omitting the multiplication sign would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nth Root
In mathematics, an th root of a number is a number which, when raised to the power of , yields : r^n = \underbrace_ = x. The positive integer is called the ''index'' or ''degree'', and the number of which the root is taken is the ''radicand.'' A root of degree 2 is called a ''square root'' and a root of degree 3, a '' cube root''. Roots of higher degree are referred by using ordinal numbers, as in ''fourth root'', ''twentieth root'', etc. The computation of an th root is a root extraction. For example, is a square root of , since , and is also a square root of , since . The th root of is written as \sqrt /math> using the radical symbol \sqrt. The square root is usually written as , with the degree omitted. Taking the th root of a number, for fixed , is the inverse of raising a number to the th power, and can be written as a fractional exponent: \sqrt = x^. For a positive real number , \sqrt denotes the positive square root of and \sqrt /math> denotes the pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Factorization
In mathematics, integer factorization is the decomposition of a positive integer into a product of integers. Every positive integer greater than 1 is either the product of two or more integer factors greater than 1, in which case it is a composite number, or it is not, in which case it is a prime number. For example, is a composite number because , but is a prime number because it cannot be decomposed in this way. If one of the factors is composite, it can in turn be written as a product of smaller factors, for example . Continuing this process until every factor is prime is called prime factorization; the result is always unique up to the order of the factors by the prime factorization theorem. To factorize a small integer using mental or pen-and-paper arithmetic, the simplest method is trial division: checking if the number is divisible by prime numbers , , , and so on, up to the square root of . For larger numbers, especially when using a computer, various more sophis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zenzizenzizenzic
Zenzizenzizenzic is an obsolete form of mathematical notation representing the eighth power of a number (that is, the zenzizenzizenzic of ''x'' is ''x''8), dating from a time when powers were written out in words rather than as superscript numbers. This term was suggested by Robert Recorde, a 16th-century Welsh people, Welsh physician, mathematician and writer of popular mathematics textbooks, in his 1557 work ''The Whetstone of Witte'' (although his spelling was ''zenzizenzizenzike''); he wrote that it "doeth represent the square of squares squaredly". History At the time Recorde proposed this notation, there was no easy way of denoting the exponentiation, powers of numbers other than squares and cubes. The root word for Recorde's notation is ''zenzic'', which is a German language, German spelling of the medieval Italian word , meaning 'squared'. Since the square of a square of a number is its fourth power, Recorde used the word ''zenzizenzic'' (spelled by him as ''zenzizenzik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
