The Origins of Math Symbols: Discover Their Surprising History ✨

Sign up for our newsletter here: https://ed.ted.com/newsletter

View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/where-do-math-symbols-come-from-john-david-walters

Math is full of symbols: lines, dots, arrows, English letters, Greek letters, superscripts, subscripts ... it can look like an illegible jumble. Where did all of these symbols come from? John David Walters shares the origins of mathematical symbols, and illuminates why they’re still so important in the field today.

Lesson by John David Walters, directed by Chris Bishop.

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible.
Neil Harrison, Srikote Naewchampa, Benjamin & Shannon Pinder, Govind Shukla, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Faiza Imtiaz, Martin Stephen, Tyler Yoshizumi, Jerome Froelich, Jose Schroeder, Dan Paterniti, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mullaiarasu Sundaramurthy, Antinfinity, Gaurav Rana, Elnathan Joshua Bangayan, Elizabeth Cruz, Caleb Ross, Michael James Busa, Quinn Shen, Joshua Plant.

Check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/teded