It’s a complaint many algebra teachers are familiar with, as more letters and symbols are introduced with progressively harder courses in mathematics. But why did the plus symbol emerge as the ...

Mazur (Euclid in the Rainforest) gives readers the fascinating history behind the mathematical symbols we use, and completely take for granted, every day. Mathematical notation turns numbers into ...

As the semanticist S.I. Hayakawa stressed in his classic book Language in Thought and Action, words are not the things they represent. Words are symbols. It’s the manipulation of those symbols that ...

Mathematics might seem intimidating at first glance, but understanding its symbols is like learning to read a new language, one that opens doors to science, technology, and logical thinking. Whether ...

Before the 16th century, most math equations were written as metered verse. Thank god for graphic-design-inclined mathematicians.