On 11 Jul 2012, at 12:15, Leif Halvard Silli wrote:
> Hans Aberg, Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:20:11 +0200:
>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelus
>>>
>>> Thanks. Scandinavia's history indicates that if known in Denmark,
>>> Norway and Finland, then it should be known on Iceland and in Sweden
>>> too.
>>
>> I can't recall the obelus being used for anything math in Sweden, and
>> Bonnier's encyclopedia from 1965, in its "matemmatik" article, says
>> that ":" is used for division and "/" to denote fractions. I think it
>> is the traditional use, before the days of computers.
>
> I looked in the Swedish books I have, from around 1810 to 1950, about
> time reckoning ([fake Swedish alert:] kalenderstickor,
> söndagsbokstäver, påskdags-räkning etc), and I could not find the it,
> either ... So, we might belong to different traditions that way. ;-) If
> so, then all the more interesting why Finland have it …
Norway picked up the Danish writing system. Swedish perhaps was influenced by French in the past for political reasons; perhaps the Danish conventions come from Germany. I do not know about Finland.
Hans
Received on Wed Jul 11 2012 - 05:56:10 CDT
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