William Oughtred | |
|---|---|
 William Oughtred engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar | |
| Born | 5 March 1574 |
| Died | 30 June 1660 (aged 86) Albury, Surrey, England |
| Education | Eton College |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
| Known for | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | King's College, Cambridge |
| Notable students | |
William Oughtred (5 March 1574 – 30 June 1660),[1] also Owtred, Uhtred, etc., was an English mathematician and Anglican clergyman.[2][3][4] After John Napier discovered logarithms and Edmund Gunter created the logarithmic scales (lines, or rules) upon which slide rules are based, Oughtred was the first to use two such scales sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division. He is credited with inventing the slide rule in about 1622.[5] He also introduced the "×" symbol for multiplication and the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions.[6]
- ^ Smith, David Eugene (1923). History of Mathematics. Vol. 1. Dover Publications. p. 392. ISBN 9780486204291.
- ^ 'Oughtred (William)', in P. Bayle, translated and revised by J.P. Bernard, T. Birch and J. Lockman, A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical, (James Bettenham, for G. Strachan and J. Clarke, London 1734/1739), Vol. VIII, pp. 77-86 (Google).
- ^ F. Willmoth, 'Oughtred, William (bap. 1575, d. 1660)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004).
- ^ Mullinger, James Bass (1895). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 42. pp. 356–358.
- ^ Smith, David E. (1958). History of Mathematics. Courier Corporation. p. 205. ISBN 9780486204307.
- ^ Florian Cajori (1919). A History of Mathematics. Macmillan. p. 157.
cajori william-oughtred multiplication.