| Interesting Math History |
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| Question : |
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Where do the + and - signs come from ? |
Answer : |
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The two symbols were used in the fifteenth century to show that boxes
of merchandise were overweight or underweight. For overweight they used the sign + and for underweight the sign - . Within
about 400 years accountants and mathematicians using them.
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In the early 15th century the letters P and M were generally used for addition and subtraction in Europe. |
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The + symbol came from the Latin word et meaning and. The sign
- may come from a shorthand version of the letter m itself.
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