WHERE DO MATH SYMBOLS COME FROM AND WHY DO WE USE THEM?

Mathematics is a weird, creative and wonderful field of study that has helped us as a species with international rational thought, communication, creativity, design, science and even our understanding of the universe!

But beyond the 8th grade, math may seem significantly more daunting as that is usually the point in education where you get introduced to algebra where that field of mathematics includes all different types of symbols into your equations.

But even from the first grade, you were introduced to symbols in math that you probably don't even realise are not used anywhere else in English such as the equals sign (=) or the (+) sign.

The equals sign was created by a mathematician by the name of Robert Recorde in the 16th century who grew tired of writing the words "is equal to" in his calculations and equations and decided to replace them with a symbol of two lines on top of each other, and this caught on very quickly and we still use them today. This train of thought is how all other mathematical symbols were created as well.

Take a look at the video below by the YouTube channel: Ted-Ed on Where Do Math Symbols Come From? - John David Walters...