Johannes Widmann (1460-1498)

Johannes Widmann (1460-1498)

Fifteenth century German mathematician who at a very young age published a book on commercial arithmetic titled Behende und hüpsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmansschafft. This work is said to be the first printed book in which the now familiar symbols of addition, “+”, and subtraction, “-” first appeared, although they were used to indicate surpluses and deficits in warehouse quantities.*

widmann

Johann Widman (1462-1498)

* Source: Jean-Paul Colette, Histoire des mathématiques, tome 1, Éditions du renouveau pédagogique inc., 1973, p. 164

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