Recorde’s equals sign and other contributions to mathematical theory and operators gave computer scientists a ubiquitous and universally recognized symbol to assign values and assert a quality. It is arguable that Recorde laid the foundation for the discipline of computer science, as computer science is at its core about processing, creating, and collecting data. So the more equations you know, the more you can converse with the cosmos.” - Neil DeGrasse Tyson A vertical equals sign, rather than a horizontal equals sign, may have been used throughout the 1600s, with the now universally used horizontal equal sign becoming standardized over the course of the 1700s. This gave Recorde’s equals sign some extra influence, as when combined with + and – the equals sign could easily be used to assert mathematical equations that took much longer to write out. However, Recorde had introduced English speakers to the now-famous German symbols for subtraction and addition: “+” and “-”. One reason that Recorde’s symbol may have been slow to catch on was that in the 16th century Latin still heavily influenced communication, and the term “aequalis” was frequently just shortened to “Ae” or “oe” if an abbreviation was required. While Recorde’s new equals sign succinctly implied equality between two values, it wasn’t widely adopted until much later. Photo: By Robert Recorde –, Public Domain, A representation of the first known equation, equivalent to 14x + 15 = 71.

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