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The Whetstone of Witte is the shortened title of Robert Recorde's mathematics book published in 1557, the full title being The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng the extraction of Rootes: The Coßike practise, with the rule of Equation: and the woorkes of Surde Nombers. The book covers topics including whole numbers, the extraction of roots and irrational numbers.^[2] The work is notable for containing the first recorded use of the equals sign^[3] and also for being the first book in English to use the plus and minus signs.^[4]

Recordian notation for exponentiation, however, differed from the later Cartesian notation $p^{q}=p\times p\times p\cdots \times p$ . Recorde expressed indices and surds larger than 3 in a systematic form based on the prime factorization of the exponent: a factor of two he termed a zenzic, and a factor of three, a cubic. Recorde termed the larger prime numbers appearing in this factorization sursolids, distinguishing between them by use of ordinal numbers: that is, he defined 5 as the first sursolid, written as ʃz and 7 as the second sursolid, written as Bʃz.^[5] He also devised symbols for these factors: a zenzic was denoted by z, and a cubic by &. For instance, he referred to p⁸=p^2×2×2 as zzz (the zenzizenzizenzic), and q¹²=q^2×2×3 as zz& (the zenzizenzicubic).^[6]

Later in the book he includes a chart of exponents all the way up to p⁸⁰=p^{2×2×2×2×5} written as zzzzʃz. There is an error in the chart, however, writing p⁶⁹ as Sʃz, despite it not being a prime. It should be p^3×23 or &Gʃz.^[7]

References

^ Robert Recorde (1557). The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng the extraction of Rootes: The Coßike practise, with the rule of Equation: and the woorkes of Surde Nombers (PDF). London: Jhon Kyngstone.. Page 238 in the pdf file.
^ Williams, Jack (2011), "The Whetstone of Witte", Robert Recorde: Tudor Polymath, Expositor and Practitioner of Computation, History of Computing, Springer, pp. 173–196, doi:10.1007/978-0-85729-862-1_10, ISBN 9780857298621.
^ Atkins, Peter (2004), Galileo's Finger:The Ten Great Ideas of Science, Oxford University Press, p. 484, ISBN 9780191622502.
^ Cajori, Florian (2007), A History of Mathematical Notations, Cosimo, p. 164, ISBN 9781602066847.
^ Williams (2011), p. 147.
^ Williams (2011), p. 154.
^ Williams (2011), p. 163.

External links

The Whetstone of Witte at The Internet Archive

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[1] Robert Recorde (1557). The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng the extraction of Rootes: The Coßike practise, with the rule of Equation: and the woorkes of Surde Nombers (PDF). London: Jhon Kyngstone.. Page 238 in the pdf file.

[2] Williams, Jack (2011), "The Whetstone of Witte", Robert Recorde: Tudor Polymath, Expositor and Practitioner of Computation, History of Computing, Springer, pp. 173–196, doi:10.1007/978-0-85729-862-1_10, ISBN 9780857298621.

[3] Atkins, Peter (2004), Galileo's Finger:The Ten Great Ideas of Science, Oxford University Press, p. 484, ISBN 9780191622502.

[4] Cajori, Florian (2007), A History of Mathematical Notations, Cosimo, p. 164, ISBN 9781602066847.

[5] Williams (2011), p. 147.

[6] Williams (2011), p. 154.

[7] Williams (2011), p. 163.

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@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
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 [[Image:Recorde - The Whetstone of Witte - equals.jpg|thumb|400 px|right|The passage in ''The Whetstone of Witte'' introducing the equals sign<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/download/TheWhetstoneOfWitte/TheWhetstoneOfWitte_text.pdf | author=Robert Recorde | title=The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng the extraction of Rootes: The Coßike practise, with the rule of Equation: and the woorkes of Surde Nombers | location=London | publisher=Jhon Kyngstone<!---spelling obtained from page 1 of the pdf file, confirmed by https://books.google.de/books?id=Clu3BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA51---> |  year=1557 }}. Page 238 in the pdf file.</ref>]]
-'''''The Whetstone of Witte''''' is the shortened title of [[Robert Recorde]]'s [[mathematics]] book published in 1557, the full title being '''''The whetstone of {{Not a typo|witte}}, {{Not a typo|whiche}} is the {{Not a typo|seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng thextraction of Rootes}}: The ''Coßike'' practise, with the rule of ''Equation'': and the {{Not a typo|woorkes}} of ''Surde Nombers'''. The book covers topics including whole numbers, the extraction of roots and irrational numbers.<ref>{{citation|doi=10.1007/978-0-85729-862-1_10|title=Robert Recorde: Tudor Polymath, Expositor and Practitioner of Computation|series=History of Computing|first=Jack|last=Williams|publisher=Springer|year=2011|isbn=9780857298621|contribution=The Whetstone of Witte|pages=173–196}}.</ref> The work is notable for containing the first recorded use of the [[equals sign]]<ref>{{citation|title=Galileo's Finger:The Ten Great Ideas of Science|first=Peter|last=Atkins|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780191622502|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJyXzvkXWBAC&pg=PT484|page=484}}.</ref> and also for being the first book in English to use the [[plus and minus signs]].<ref>{{citation|title=A History of Mathematical Notations|first=Florian|last=Cajori|authorlink=Florian Cajori|publisher=Cosimo|year=2007|isbn=9781602066847|page=164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhEh8jPGQOcC&pg=PA164}}.</ref>
+'''''The Whetstone of Witte''''' is the shortened title of [[Robert Recorde]]'s [[mathematics]] book published in 1557, the full title being '''''The whetstone of {{Not a typo|witte}}, {{Not a typo|whiche}} is the {{Not a typo|seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng the extraction of Rootes}}: The ''Coßike'' practise, with the rule of ''Equation'': and the {{Not a typo|woorkes}} of ''Surde Nombers'''. The book covers topics including whole numbers, the extraction of roots and irrational numbers.<ref>{{citation|doi=10.1007/978-0-85729-862-1_10|title=Robert Recorde: Tudor Polymath, Expositor and Practitioner of Computation|series=History of Computing|first=Jack|last=Williams|publisher=Springer|year=2011|isbn=9780857298621|contribution=The Whetstone of Witte|pages=173–196}}.</ref> The work is notable for containing the first recorded use of the [[equals sign]]<ref>{{citation|title=Galileo's Finger:The Ten Great Ideas of Science|first=Peter|last=Atkins|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780191622502|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJyXzvkXWBAC&pg=PT484|page=484}}.</ref> and also for being the first book in English to use the [[plus and minus signs]].<ref>{{citation|title=A History of Mathematical Notations|first=Florian|last=Cajori|authorlink=Florian Cajori|publisher=Cosimo|year=2007|isbn=9781602066847|page=164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhEh8jPGQOcC&pg=PA164}}.</ref>
 [[Prime factor exponent notation|Recordian notation]] for [[exponentiation]], however, differed from the later Cartesian notation <math>p^q = p \times p \times p \cdots \times p</math>.  Recorde expressed [[exponent|indices]] and [[Nth root|surds]] larger than 3 in a systematic form based on the [[prime factorization]] of the exponent: a factor of two he termed a ''zenzic'', and a factor of three, a ''cubic''. Recorde termed the larger prime numbers appearing in this factorization ''sursolids'', distinguishing between them by use of ordinal numbers: that is, he defined 5 as the ''first sursolid'', written as '''ʃz''' and 7 as the ''second sursolid'', written as '''Bʃz'''.<ref>{{harvtxt|Williams|2011}}, p. 147.</ref>