Definition:Parenthesis/Historical Note
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Historical Note on Parenthesis
Round brackets $\paren \;$ first appeared in $1544$.
Square brackets $\sqbrk \;$ and braces $\set \;$ were used by François Viète in around $1593$.
1910: Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell: Principia Mathematica idiosyncratically use dots "$.$" for no immediate discernible benefit. The rules governing their use are complex and clumsy.
Sources
- 1910: Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell: Principia Mathematica: Volume $\text { 1 }$ ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text{I}$: Preliminary Explanations of Ideas and Notations
- 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $4$: Lure of the Unknown: Algebraic symbolism