Here's a bit of useless knowledge for you - who invented the equals sign and where was he born?

Question

Here's a bit of useless knowledge  for you - who invented the equals sign and where was he born?

anonymous · Answer

who's first to the wiki site??

anonymous · Answer

robert recorde

anonymous · Answer

tenby wales is his place of birth

anonymous · Answer

thats the man - i visited tenby in South Wales recently and theres a plaque in the local church in his memory. He was born there and was a doctor by profession who dabbled in math.

amistre64 · Answer

i think it represents 2 parallel lines; same length and what not

anonymous · Answer

looks like a pretty cool town, i'm digging the architecture

anonymous · Answer

yea that makes sense

anonymous · Answer

oh yes - its got great beaches too

anonymous · Answer

so when did the equals sign start getting used - 
and how were equations done before that ?

anonymous · Answer

i think it was 1500 something

anonymous · Answer

good question

immanuelv · Answer

why does it matter?

anonymous · Answer

Why does what matter ?

anonymous · Answer

just curiousity immanuelv

anonymous · Answer

ditto ^^^

immanuelv · Answer

ohh.... i thought it was something really important :) srry

anonymous · Answer

ah - it's OK , you'll see that we don't limit ourselves to only discuss really important stuff.

anonymous · Answer

robert recorde?  wow there is an unsung hero

anonymous · Answer

I wonder if it was a sailor who invented the wavy lines (approximately equal).

anonymous · Answer

no that was robert recorde after a few pints

immanuelv · Answer

wow lv 99!

amistre64 · Answer

lvl A0 is next

anonymous · Answer

apparently it looked like ================

anonymous · Answer

http://blog.plover.com/math/recorde.html

anonymous · Answer

Actuall "64" would be level 100 in hex.

immanuelv · Answer

i wonder if i'll ever be lv 11

across · Answer

I guess it matters because it led to the use of ≤, ≥, ≠, ≈, etc. all which are highly important inequalities.

anonymous · Answer

What about  "not wavy lines"  - surely it can be used somewhere ?

anonymous · Answer

bonus round, 
who invented 
$$\equiv$$ ?

anonymous · Answer

hint
not newton!

anonymous · Answer

does it start with an R ?

immanuelv · Answer

i thnink someone here has 2 accounts :)

anonymous · Answer

no L
no L
no L
the angles did congruent...

anonymous · Answer

LagrangeSon ?

anonymous · Answer

yes!  right after myininaya invented 
$$\pi$$