The Surprisingly Short History Of The Plus Sign - Fast Company 06-23-2014 DESIGN The Surprisingly Short History Of The Plus Sign Before the 16th century, most math equations were written as metered verse Thank god for graphic-design-inclined mathematicians
Where and When Did the Symbols + and – Originate? The ancient Greeks expressed addition mostly by juxtaposition, but sporadically used the slash symbol " " for addition and a semi-elliptical curve for subtraction In the famous Egyptian Ahmes papyrus, a pair of legs walking forward marked addition, and walking away subtraction