Definition:Cartesian Product/Historical Note
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Historical Note on Cartesian Product
René Descartes is (rightly or wrongly) credited with inventing what is usually referred to as the Cartesian coordinate system of analytic geometry, in which points on (for example) the plane are identified with ordered pairs of real numbers.
Thus the plane is seen to be the Cartesian product of the set of real numbers $\R$ with itself.
Hence the reason for the name of the Cartesian product when used for general set or classes.
Sources
- 2010: Raymond M. Smullyan and Melvin Fitting: Set Theory and the Continuum Problem (revised ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $2$: Some Basics of Class-Set Theory: $\S 7$ Cartesian products: Remark