Definition:Addition/Historical Note

Historical Note on Addition

The symbol $+$ for addition originated in commerce, along with the symbol $-$ for subtraction, where they were used by German merchants to distinguish overweight and underweight items.

These symbols first appeared in print in $1481$.

However, Regiomontanus was the first to use it in its current shape, in an unpublished manuscript from $1456$.

Previous instances of the symbol had appeared in print from $1417$, but the downward stroke was not quite vertical.

Sources

• 2005: Clifford A. Pickover: A Passion for Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Numbers, History, Society, and People: The symbols of mathematics
• 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $4$: Lure of the Unknown: Algebraic symbolism