WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Origin of Math Signs

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck, and this is short Stuff, and we are

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<v Speaker 1>going to talk about something that has been overlooked for

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<v Speaker 1>far too long, which is the origins of the plus

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<v Speaker 1>minus multiplication, division and equal symbols.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought this was really cool by the way you

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<v Speaker 2>put this together with help from FASCO, cal Tech, Science ABC,

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<v Speaker 2>among other places. And I had never thought about this

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<v Speaker 2>stuff because I'm not a math person, but I love

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<v Speaker 2>origin stories, and I thought this is really neat, especially

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<v Speaker 2>the fact that these symbols came about to begin with,

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<v Speaker 2>because people before they had these. You wrote out a

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<v Speaker 2>math problem like this long word problem, but not like

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<v Speaker 2>you know, a train's traveling in this direction kind of thing.

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<v Speaker 2>It's more like I have divided ten into two parts

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<v Speaker 2>and multiplying one of these by the other. The results

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<v Speaker 2>was twenty one. Then you know that one of the

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<v Speaker 2>parts is thing and the other is ten minus thing.

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<v Speaker 1>Right. That was an excerpt from a ninth century algebra

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<v Speaker 1>book by the mathematician Mohammed ibn Musai al Kharazmi. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>pretty sure that's his name. Today you would take that

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<v Speaker 1>same formula and write it out as x times ten

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<v Speaker 1>minus x equals twenty one.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so simple, that's it.

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<v Speaker 1>And that reveals why these things were so important. It

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<v Speaker 1>just saves you so much time. So not only did

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<v Speaker 1>it make writing an algebra book that much more attractive,

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<v Speaker 1>it made teaching it that much faster. You might not

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<v Speaker 1>have necessarily learned it any faster, but you definitely could

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<v Speaker 1>teach these things faster with these notations rather than writing

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<v Speaker 1>it out. And I also saw check that some of

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<v Speaker 1>those sentences that they would write, some people would put

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<v Speaker 1>it into verse metered verse like poems. That takes a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of time, and it's unnecessary.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and especially at the time when you're writing with eagles,

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<v Speaker 2>feather and an ink. Weell sure, you know what I mean.

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<v Speaker 1>That really drags too.

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<v Speaker 3>It's not like you're just dashing this stuff off with

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<v Speaker 3>a pencil.

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<v Speaker 1>Nope.

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<v Speaker 3>So some folks came along and changed all that.

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<v Speaker 2>According to the v NR Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics hot Read,

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<v Speaker 2>the origin of the equal sign goes like this. A

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<v Speaker 2>man named Robert record or record A was the royal

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<v Speaker 2>court physician for King Edward about six and Queen Mary,

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<v Speaker 2>and a very influential mathematician in Wales, and he got

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<v Speaker 2>tired of writing out equals over and over, so he

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<v Speaker 2>thus proposed the equal sign because it is two little

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<v Speaker 2>equal lines, and that's parallel equal lines.

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<v Speaker 3>And this I never thought it, but it's brilliant.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, he said, a pair of parallels or twin lines

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<v Speaker 1>of one length, and then he spelled. He shows what

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<v Speaker 1>he's talking about, because no two things can be more equal.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's a lot of extra vowels in those words,

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<v Speaker 1>but yeah, he gets the point across. And he was saying, like,

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<v Speaker 1>this is such a great time saver. I'm so tired

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<v Speaker 1>of saying is equal to? And he wrote it in

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<v Speaker 1>a book called The Wetstone of Wit, And of course

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<v Speaker 1>a whetstone is what you sharpened things with, so it

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<v Speaker 1>sharpens your wit to read this book. I love that title,

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<v Speaker 1>and it actually became very influential and well read as

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<v Speaker 1>far as sixteenth century math books go. And Robert Record

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<v Speaker 1>is credited with coming up with the minus symbol and

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<v Speaker 1>introducing it to his people back then.

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<v Speaker 3>The equal sign.

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<v Speaker 1>You mean what I say?

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<v Speaker 3>Minus sign? Oh just wait, chuck, all right, well we're there.

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<v Speaker 2>Plus and minus are what we use to indicate adding

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<v Speaker 2>something and subtracting something. As everyone knows they come. The

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<v Speaker 2>terms themselves come from Latin, where plus means more and

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<v Speaker 2>minus means less. And the other thing is the plus

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<v Speaker 2>symbol itself is also from the Latin word et et,

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<v Speaker 2>meaning and like this and that equals that, which is

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<v Speaker 2>pretty great. So at one point there was a French

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<v Speaker 2>philosopher named Nicole ors Me from the fourteenth century who

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<v Speaker 2>used that plus sign as a shorthand for et, which

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<v Speaker 2>is what they used to write. And at first it

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<v Speaker 2>didn't take right, I think, like people weren't universally accepting this.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it wasn't until like the sixteenth or seventeenth century

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<v Speaker 1>that it started to really kind of take off. I

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<v Speaker 1>think the sixteenth century, Okay, And apparently there was competition

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<v Speaker 1>at first too, that it wasn't just the plain old

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<v Speaker 1>plus sign that equal cross, that there were other crosses

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<v Speaker 1>in the in the running too, including the Maltese cross.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a great looking cross, yeah, but it takes a

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<v Speaker 1>lot more time to write the Maltese cross out than

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<v Speaker 1>it does to make a plus symbol, and the whole

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<v Speaker 1>point of these things was to save time. So everybody said, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>Maltese cross, we like you. But we're gonna go with

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<v Speaker 1>the plus sign.

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<v Speaker 3>That's right.

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<v Speaker 2>So that's plus, we got equals, we got plus minus.

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<v Speaker 2>Now in Europe there was an Italian mathematician named Luca Pacioli,

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<v Speaker 2>and Luca was using the symbol P with a little

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<v Speaker 2>line over it for plus, an M with a little

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<v Speaker 2>line of it over it for minus. And no one's

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<v Speaker 2>exactly sure, but it seems to be that the M

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<v Speaker 2>was just dropped right, and then the minus sign, because

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<v Speaker 2>we already had a plus sign, became the minus sign.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so you don't need the plus sign forget you

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<v Speaker 1>P with the tilbey over it. We're gonna take the

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<v Speaker 1>M instead. And it was it wasn't Robert Record who

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<v Speaker 1>came up with that, but he was the one who

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<v Speaker 1>introduced it.

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<v Speaker 3>To England, right, And I never knew it was called

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<v Speaker 3>it tild.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't either that line over the P or the M. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I think that's what they call it, so yeah, And

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know if it's the minus sign itself is

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<v Speaker 1>called that, or if it has to be over the

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<v Speaker 1>letter to be called that.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, Well, there are a couple of other words

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<v Speaker 2>that I did not know coming up right after the break,

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<v Speaker 2>all right, we're gonna wind it out with the multiplication

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<v Speaker 2>symbol and the division symbol multiplication. If you say it's

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<v Speaker 2>a little X, you're incorrect because it is not an X.

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<v Speaker 2>It's actually called the Cross of San Andreas because X.

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<v Speaker 2>Well not because, but it would be very confusing because

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<v Speaker 2>X is already a thing in math, Like you're solving

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<v Speaker 2>for X. X represents something in math, So it's it's

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<v Speaker 2>actually incorrect to say it's a little X.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, if you do that at a math conference, they

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<v Speaker 1>will find the nearest fire hose and flood you mercilessly

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<v Speaker 1>with it.

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<v Speaker 3>They will.

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<v Speaker 1>So, yeah, that makes total sense. And it was a

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<v Speaker 1>guy named William Autred who was writing in I think

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<v Speaker 1>the sixteenth century, like the sixteen thirties, and he was

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<v Speaker 1>the one who introduced it. He's credited with this. But

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<v Speaker 1>the people at Science ABC went to the trouble of

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<v Speaker 1>digging up the fact that there's an anonymous appendix in

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<v Speaker 1>a translation of another book of logarithms from sixteen eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>where the Cross of San Andreas is first used.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so, but he introduced it in before that, right, no.

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<v Speaker 1>After, But since it was anonymous in the appendix, they

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<v Speaker 1>don't know who to credit it with, and I said,

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<v Speaker 1>you need to win today. We're going to with that.

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<v Speaker 2>I mentioned before the break that there were a couple

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<v Speaker 2>of more words that I didn't realize were words, and

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<v Speaker 2>that is the the division symbol that apparently I didn't

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<v Speaker 2>even know this is not even really used anymore officially,

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<v Speaker 2>which is to say, the line like the minus symbol

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<v Speaker 2>with a dot above it and a dot below it

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<v Speaker 2>in the center, that is actually called an obelis.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that symbol. You know what, it reminds me of

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<v Speaker 1>of that calculator that was shaped like a big plastic owl. Oh,

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<v Speaker 1>that's what I associate that with. I remember those, But

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know it was called an obelis either. And

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<v Speaker 1>I also didn't know that obelis is an old Greek

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<v Speaker 1>word for sharpened stick, and that that division symbol, the

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<v Speaker 1>obelis is supposed to represent a small dagger.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it looks like one.

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<v Speaker 1>So I guess what it's doing is it's cutting in half.

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<v Speaker 1>It's cutting a portion out. Ah, that's the only thing

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<v Speaker 1>I can come up with.

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<v Speaker 3>Okay, I like that though, sure.

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<v Speaker 1>And we can thank Johann Ron, who's Swiss not Swedish,

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<v Speaker 1>who started using it all the way back in sixteen

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<v Speaker 1>fifty nine.

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<v Speaker 3>That's right.

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<v Speaker 2>The other word I did not know is the what

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<v Speaker 2>is now the backslash symbol for division is called a

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<v Speaker 2>either a fraction bar or a solidus.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, didn't know that either.

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't know that that was the exclusive thing. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>this is how out of touch with matth iron.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Apparently the ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, who

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<v Speaker 1>aren't familiar with how to create an acronym. They said

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<v Speaker 1>that you could only use the solidus or the fraction

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<v Speaker 1>bar to indicate division, and that the obelis is out

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<v Speaker 1>out out. But Science ABC said, don't worry everybody. Listen,

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<v Speaker 1>if you go on to your keyboard, you know what's weird.

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<v Speaker 1>I haven't tried this. Did you try it?

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<v Speaker 2>No?

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to try it right now. Why don't you

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<v Speaker 1>go ahead and tell everybody what you're supposed to do

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm going to try it myself.

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<v Speaker 2>Chuck, Well, what you do is you hold the alt

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<v Speaker 2>key on your keyboard and then press two four to

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<v Speaker 2>six on the number pad.

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<v Speaker 3>And what do we got? My friend?

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<v Speaker 1>I think maybe you have to press it at once,

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<v Speaker 1>hold on two four six. You got lies? That's what

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<v Speaker 1>you got Chuck thirty lies.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh well, let me try then you talked for a second.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, So I'm going to do it again, two four

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<v Speaker 1>six with all pressed at the same time in Microsoft Word.

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<v Speaker 1>The current version of Microsoft Word won't do it.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't even know if I have Word on this laptop.

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<v Speaker 1>The thing that gives it away for why I think

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<v Speaker 1>this might not be correct any longer, is that they

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned that you press the numbers two four six on

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<v Speaker 1>your number pad. Remember when numbers used to be off

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<v Speaker 1>to the side on a keyboard and their own thing.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I've got a keyboard like that. Okay, let me

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<v Speaker 2>let me try it for you. So all to two

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<v Speaker 2>four six.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think at the same time.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh that's hard to do. I'm trying to, like fingering

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<v Speaker 2>a weird guitar chord that didn't work alt two for six.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, this is just bs.

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<v Speaker 1>They got us, Chuck. They got us as good as

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<v Speaker 1>Debbie Ranka did with that whole thing about Judas spilling

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<v Speaker 1>the salt shaker in the Last Supper.

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<v Speaker 2>Wait, let me try one more thing, two for six.

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<v Speaker 2>Now it's not working.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay. Well, I'm sorry everybody that we misled you, but

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<v Speaker 1>I'm glad we worked it out so you don't have

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<v Speaker 1>to email us about it.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe someone knows though, and can tell us what we're

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<v Speaker 2>doing wrong.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we love hearing that, and while we wait for

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<v Speaker 1>you to write in short, stuff is out.

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