Re: Too narrowly defined: DIVISION SIGN & COLON

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 ...

I know I have provided enough documentation now, but I just looked my
copy of a classic Norwegian book from 1971 on time reckoning, calendar
etc,[1] and he used both the – and the ÷ as minus, but predominantly
the ÷, it seems.

[1] http://books.google.no/books/about/?id=kHgyQwAACAAJ

-- 
Leif Halvard Silli