History of Mathematical Notation

Includes the commencement, progress, and cultural diffusion of mathematical symbols

and the conflict the methods of notation confronted in a notations move to popularity
or inconspicuousness.

Includes Hindu-Arabic numerals, letter from Romans, Greek, Hebrew and German
alphabets; and a host of symbols invented by mathematicians over the past several
centuries.
Mathematical Notation

Comprises the symbols used to write mathematical equations and formulas

Notation

A set of well-defined representations of quantities and symbols operators

Stages:
1. Rhetorical Stage calculations are performed by words and no symbols are used
2. Syncopated Stage frequently used operations and quantities are represented by
symbolic syntactical abbreviations
3. Symbolic Stage comprehensive systems of notation supersede rhetoric
ANCIENT GREECE

The first mathematical symbols for arbitrary quantities appeared much later in Greece

Arbitrary quantities (areas, volumes, angles) were represented by the lengths and lines
and the product of two such quantities was represented a rectangle with sides
representing the respective factors

In Euclids elements:
Quantities were denoted by two letters, the initial and final letters of the
corresponding segment, and sometimes by one letter

POST HELLENISTIC ERA

Thanks to the liberation of algebra from its geometric setting, the rudiments of letter
notation and calculus appeared

Diophantus denoted the unknown

and its powers

INDIAN MATHEMATICS

Introduced various mathematical symbols for several unknowns, the square, the square
root, and the subtrahend

RENAISSANCE

The creation of modern algebraic symbols dates to the 14th 15th centuries

It was conditioned by the achievements in practical arithmetic and study of equations

Symbols for various operations and for powers of an unknown quantity appeared
spontaneously in different countries

At the end of 15th century N. Chuquet and L. Pacioli were using the symbols p and m
for addition and subtraction, respectively

The German mathematicians introduced the modern + and

As late as 17th century, one could count about ten different symbols for multiplication

Leonardo Pisano (Leonardo da Pisa 1220) and up to the 17th century the symbol RR
(from the Latin radix) was widely employed for square root

Chuquet denoted square, cube etc., roots by RR2, RR3, etc.

In a German manuscript of ca. 1480 was denoted by a dot before the number, the
cube root by the three dots, and the fourth root by two dots

By 1525 one can already find the symbol (K. Rudolff)

MODERN ALGEBRAIC NOTATION

Mathematical symbols for an unknown quantity and its powers were highly diverse

In the 16th century and early 17th century, more than ten rival notations were current
for just one square unknown; among these were:
ce for census
Q for quadratum
zz, ii1, A, 12, Aii, aa, a2, etc.
Mathematician

Contribution

Vite

Introduced the use of capital letters of the Latin alphabet to

denote both arbitrary constant quantities and unknowns
Consonants, such as B, D, were reserved for constants
Vowels , such as A, E, I, were for unknowns
The creator of algebraic formulas

Descartes

Gave algebraic notation its modern appearance

denoting unknowns by the last letters of the alphabet x, y, z
denoted arbitrary quantities by the first letters a, b, c
credited for with the modern notation for powers

INFINITESIMAL CALCULUS
Mathematician
Leibniz

Contribution
creator of modern notation for

differential and integral calculus

he invented the modern differentials

dx,d2x,d3x and the integral ydx

Euler

deserves the credit for a considerable

proportion of modern mathematical

notation
he introduced the first generally

accepted symbol for a variable operation,

the function symbol fx
first to use the notations

(the base

of natural logarithms), the spread

notation and introduced the imaginary
unit which soon gained universal
acceptance
XIX CENTURY

The role of notation became even more important as new fields of mathematics were
opened up, scholar endeavored to standardize the basic symbols

Some widely employed modern symbols appeared only at that time:

the absolute value
the vector
the determinant

K. Weierstrass, 1841

x
v

A. Cauchy, 1853

a1b1a2b2

A. Cayley, 1841

Many of the new theories, such as tensor calculus, could not have been developed
without suitable notation

Increase in relative proportion of symbols denoting relations, such as:

the congruence

(C.F. Gauss, 1801)

membership

isomorphism
equivalence

CLASSIFICATION OF SYMBOLS
A. Symbols for Objects
The notation for natural numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
The transcendental numbers

and

The imaginary unit ()

Symbol for points, straight lines, planes, and more complex geometrical figures,
denoted in geometry by letters
B. Symbols for Operations
The signs for arithmetical operations (+, -, , )
Root extraction (, () 1/n)
Differentiation (ddx)
Laplace operator (=2x2+2y2+2z2)
Individual symbols (sin, tan, log, etc.)
Notations such as f, F, for functions and notation operator in calculus
C. Symbols for Relations
Equality and inequality signs (<, >, , , )
Symbols denoting parallel ()
Symbols denoting perpendicular ()
D. Auxiliary Symbols
determine the order in which the symbols are to be combined ( [], (), {})
Two Kinds (of A, B, and C) :
1. Individual Symbols for Definite Objects
2. General symbols for variable or unknown