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Background of the Equals Sign

A photograph of a wall tablet in memory of Robert Record. The tablet says, in Memory of Robert Recorde The eminent mathematician, who was born at Tenby, circa 1510. To his genius we owe the earliest important English treatises on algebra, arithmetic, astronomy, and geometry. He also inveted teh sign of equality = now universally adopted by the civilized world. Robert Recorde was court physician to King Edward VI and Queen Mary. He died in London 1558.
Robert Recorde invented the equals sign in 1557. CC-BY-SA-4.0

 

 

Before the equals sign was invented, mathematicians did not have a symbol or sign to use for the idea of equality.  They would have to write the math equations in sentences.

The equals sign (=) was invented by a man from Wales in England in 1557 because he did not want to keep writing the words for equals.

The equals sign has two horizontal parallel lines (=). Robert Recorde said that “no two things can be more equal.”

It took about 150 years for the equals sign to be widely used.  By the 1700s, it appears to be used widely in mathematics.

 

 

Video

Watch this short reel How The Equals Sign Was Invented  (EXPLAINED) by zachfilms

 

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The Language of Math for Learners of English Copyright © by Lisa Hillyard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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