In existographies, Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) (IQ:#|#) (Siegfried 10:8) (GME:#) (CR:3) was an English mathematician, philosopher (Hues, 1594), physicist, navigator, linguist, an oft-cited general polymath, noted for the c.1595 introduction of the inequality sign.
Overview
In c.1595, Harriot, in his manuscript notes, stated the following:
“The mark of the majority (signum majoritatis) as a > b, signifies a greater than b and the mark of the minority (signum minoritatis) to a < b signifies a lesser than b.”
—Thomas Harriot (c.1610), The Analytical Arts Applied to Solving Algebraic Equations [1]
This is the origin of the inequality sign.
Quotes | On
The following are quotes on Harriot:
“Harriot is profound mathematician, along side Thomas Digges and John Dee.”
— Gabriel Harvey (1593), Publication [2]
“Thomas Harriot was an innovative thinker and practitioner in several branches of the mathematical sciences: navigation, astronomy, optics, geometry and algebra, but he never published any of his scientific or mathematical findings. At his death he left behind over four thousand manuscript sheets of observations, calculations and diagrams, but the range of the contents and the disorder of the papers have defeated almost all subsequent attempts at publication.”
— Jacqueline Stedall (2003), The Great Invention of Algebra (pg. 3) [2]
“Torporley became Viete’s (GME:23) amanuensis, and it was almost certainly through Torporley that Harriot acquired his detailed knowledge of Viete’s mathematics.”
— Jacqueline Stedall (2003), The Great Invention of Algebra (pg. 4) [1]
References
1. Harriot, Thomas. (c.1620). The Analytical Arts Applied to Solving Algebraic Equations (Artis Analyticae Praxis ad Aequationes Algebraicas Resolvendas). Publisher, 1631.
2. Stedall, Jacqueline. (2003). The Great Invention of Algebra: Thomas Harriot’s Treatise on Equations. Oxford University Press.
External links
● Thomas Harriot – Wikipedia.
