392 years ago, the English mathematician and clergyman William Oughtred introduced the multiplication sign ✕ for the first time. via @fermatslibrary.
Oughtred was the first to use logarithmic scales and sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division. He is credited with inventing the slide rule in about 1622. He also introduced the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions. via @wikipedia
@gutenberg_org@wikipedia
I am glad to know who is responsible for these #math concepts I take for granted. I got my first #calculator in 7th grade. Our math #teacher warned us not to rely on #calculators because "Sometimes they're wrong!" One of my #CivilEngineering#professors used a #SlideRule to show the importance of understanding the quantities we're working with rather than blindly accepting the results from a #computer. One #typo can lead to disaster. I now have my own slide rule.
Here he goes and advances mathematics and everything else by leaps and bounds with the slide rule and x, and then dies before Elon can give him a bag of swag.
@gutenberg_org@wikipedia The slide rule was an irreplaceable tool for scientists and engineers for 350 years until the electronic calculator was invented. It’s hard to overstate the importance of this invention and its impact on 18th, 19th and 20th-century technology.
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