Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)

Robert Recorde

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Nationality
  
Welsh

Name
  
Robert Recorde


Role
  
Physician

Fields
  
Mathematician, Physician

Robert Recorde httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsbb

Institutions
  
University of OxfordRoyal Mint

Alma mater
  
University of OxfordUniversity of Cambridge

Known for
  
Inventing the "equals" sign (=)

Died
  
1558, London, United Kingdom

Education
  
University of Oxford, University of Cambridge

Books
  
The Whetstone of Witte, The castle of knowledge, The Grounde of Artes: A F, The Pathway to Knowled, The Urinal of Physick

Robert recorde and his invention of the equals sign in 1557


Robert Recorde (c. 1512–1558) was a Welsh physician and mathematician. He invented the "equals" sign (=) and also introduced the pre-existing "plus" sign (+) to English speakers in 1557.

Contents

Robert Recorde FileRobert Recorde uncroppedjpg Wikimedia Commons

Robert recorde


Biography

Robert Recorde More Equal than Others ThatsMaths

A member of a respectable family of Tenby, Wales, born in 1512, Recorde entered the University of Oxford about 1525, and was elected a Fellow of All Souls College there in 1531. Having adopted medicine as a profession, he went to the University of Cambridge to take the degree of M.D. in 1545. He afterwards returned to Oxford, where he publicly taught mathematics, as he had done prior to going to Cambridge. It appears that he afterwards went to London, and acted as physician to King Edward VI and to Queen Mary, to whom some of his books are dedicated. He was also controller of the Royal Mint and served as "Comptroller of Mines and Monies" in Ireland. After being sued for defamation by a political enemy, he was arrested for debt and died in the King's Bench Prison, Southwark, by the middle of June 1558.

Publications

Robert Recorde Local Heroes Exhibition Tenby London Mathematical Society

Recorde published several works upon mathematical and medical subjects, chiefly in the form of dialogue between master and scholar, such as the following:

Robert Recorde Bill39s Blog 500 Year Recorde

  • The Grounde of Artes, teachings the Worke and Practise, of Arithmeticke, both in whole numbers and fractions (1543), the first English book on algebra.
  • The Pathway to Knowledge, containing the First Principles of Geometry ... bothe for the use of Instrumentes Geometricall and Astronomicall, and also for Projection of Plattes (London, 1551)
  • The Castle of Knowledge, containing the Explication of the Sphere both Celestiall and Materiall, etc. (London, 1556) A book explaining Ptolemaic astronomy while mentioning the Copernican heliocentric model in passing.
  • The Whetstone of Witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmeteke: containing the extraction of rootes; the cossike practise, with the rule of equation; and the workes of Surde Nombers (London, 1557). This was the book in which the equals sign was introduced. With the publication of this book Recorde is credited with introducing algebra into England with a systematic notation.
  • a medical work, The Urinal of Physick (1548), frequently reprinted.

    • Several books whose authors are unknown have been attributed to him: Cosmographiae isagoge, De Arte faciendi Horologium and De Usu Globorum et de Statu temporum.

    References

    Robert Recorde Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA