Robert Recorde

ROBERT RECORDE

Robert Recorde was born in 1510. He studied at Cambridge University and taught mathematics at Oxford and Cambridge University. 1545 he earned a degree in medicine from Cambridge and became Physician to Edward VI and Queen Mary.

Recorde wrote three book, he wrote rwo books on arithmetic. The most influential, by far, was the Grounde of Artes. In this book Recorde discusses Arabic numerals, computations with counters, fractions, ratio and proportion. In 1557 Robert Recorde published a book called the Whetstone of Witte. This book contained improvements in method and notation which Recorde had worked out. For example, he was the first to use the symbol “=” for equality. The equal sign appears to us today, the symbol was not really accepted until about one hundred years after Recorde introduced it.

Recorde accepted a position as Comptroller of Mines and Moneys in Ireland, and died in a debtor’s prison 1558.