• lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    12·
    20 hours ago

    That’s one theory why x is used in math so much: in times of the printing press, the letter x was barely used so always free

    • sga@lemmings.worldEnglish
      7·
      20 hours ago

      yes, if I am not wrong, very early writings used something else, but as printing was becoming common, they wanted to use something from standard typewriter keys, and x was a good option (it also helps even the wear out i think)

      • lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        4·
        20 hours ago

        I think they used whole sentences back in the days and it was in the printing press era that they started abbreviating things to letters and symbols