Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics

November 30, 2020 12:41 PM

These pages attempt to show the first uses of various words used in mathematics. Research for these pages is ongoing, and a citation should not be assumed to be the earliest use unless it is indicated as such. Mathematical Words: Origins and Sources by John Aldrich is an excellent article and companion to this web site.
posted by smcg (7 comments total)

Web 1.0, may it never die
posted by J.K. Seazer at 2:19 PM on November 30, 2020 [2 favorites]

No entry for "clopen".
posted by sammyo at 2:31 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yes, but at the same time, they're not saying that "clopen" is not a word.
posted by aws17576 at 4:53 PM on November 30, 2020

This is a very important site indeed for those of us who write general-audience nonfiction books about math. Niche use case, I know.
posted by escabeche at 5:44 PM on November 30, 2020 [4 favorites]

I suspect a bit like an onomatopoeia clopen is both a word and not a word. (it's a set that is closed and open at the same time)
posted by sammyo at 8:06 PM on November 30, 2020

I’m only familiar with “clopen” from retail scheduling… when you’re scheduled to close one night, and then scheduled to open the next day.
posted by snowmentality at 8:32 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Radian is funny, because it is first recorded in a problem set (1873). The concept and exact definition are much older (1714!), but it seems there was no truly broad agreement on what to call it.

For many of these terms, if a Wikipedia page exists for it, it may well have additional context and info in the history section, as it does in this case.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:47 PM on November 30, 2020