Mathematician:Johannes Widmann

Mathematician

German mathematician best known for introducing the $+$ and $-$ symbols.

Nationality

German

History

• Born: 1462 in Eger, Bohemia (now Cheb, Czech Republic)
• Died: 1498 in Leipzig, Germany

Theorems and Definitions

Introduced in print the $+$ and $-$ symbols in the context of an indicator of positive quantity and negative quantity.

Publications

• 1489: Behende und hübsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmanschafft ("Nimble and neat calculation in all trades") (also known as Mercantile Arithmetic)

Also known as

His surname is variously otherwise presented as Widman, Weideman or Wideman.

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Johannes Widmann": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive