Prone to Short Cuts and Abbreviations,
Man Has Chopped Words Into
Lines and Crosses.
A little mark or sign, used in every-day life so frequently that its users
concern themselves only with its necessary meaning, may have a very
elaborate history--may embalm much tradition. Take the English sign for a
pound--L. How many persons have stopped to inquire as to its meaning? L
stands for the Latin _libra_, as "d," used to indicate the pence, stands
for the Latin _denarius_, and as "s," used to indicate the shilling,
stands for the Latin _solidus_.
The origin of arithmetical signs is explained as follows:
1. The sign of addition (+) is derived from the initial
letter of the word plus. In making the capital letter, it
was made more and more carelessly, until the top part of the
P was placed near the center; and hence the plus sign was
finally reached.
2. The sign of subtraction (-) was derived from the word
minus. The word was first contracted into m n s, with a
horizontal line above to indicate the contraction; then the
letters were omitted, which left the short line -.
3. The multiplication sign (x) was obtained by changing the
plus sign into the letter X. This was done because
multiplication is a short method of addition.
4. Division (/) was formerly indicated by placing the
dividend above a horizontal and the divisor below. In order
to save space in printing, the dividend was placed to the
left and the divisor to the right, and a dot was written in
the place of each.
5. The radical sign [TN Symbol] was derived from
the initial letter of the word radix.
6. The sign of equality (=) was first used to avoid
repeating the words "equal to" or "equals."