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Robert Record
d. 1558
Best known for introducing the equals sign, this 16th-century Welsh physician and mathematician helped make arithmetic and algebra easier to read and teach in English. His books brought practical mathematics to a wider audience at a time when such subjects were often still taught in Latin.
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About the author
Born in Tenby, Wales, around 1510, Robert Recorde studied at Oxford and later at Cambridge, where he earned a medical degree. He worked as a physician as well as a scholar, but he is remembered most for writing some of the first important mathematics books in English.
Recorde wrote on arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and algebra, aiming to make technical learning more accessible. In The Whetstone of Witte (1557), he introduced the equals sign = in print, choosing it because, as he explained, no two things could be more equal than parallel lines. He also helped popularize the plus and minus signs for English readers.
His life ended unhappily: after legal and financial troubles, he died in 1558 while imprisoned for debt. Even so, his influence lasted far beyond his lifetime, because the clear symbols and teaching style he championed became part of everyday mathematics.