Etymology of Integer

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 09:13:31 +0000

We use integers so much in math that it never occurred to me before yesterday that this is a weird word with a weirder symbol associated to it. Wikipedia explains this very nicely.

The words integer and entire share the same Latin root: in (“not”) plus tangere (“to touch”). Google says that the first known use of the word integer was in 1571 by Thomas Digges in a book called A Geometrical Practise Named Pantometria. The word origin still doesn’t make complete sense to me but then I don’t know any Latin. The symbol $\mathbb{Z}$ comes from Zahlen, which is German for numbers, and was first used by Hilbert.

History-of-Math Resources

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 22:30:11 +0000

I’ve always been fascinated by the history of mathematics. Some of the classic and dramatic discoveries I read a kid were those of non-Euclidean geometry, Galois theory, the proof of Fermat’s last theorem, as well as Cantor and Gödel’s breakthroughs in logic. However, some of the more commonplace achievements, such as the invention of calculus by Newton and its subsequent formalization a century later through $\epsilon \delta$ proofs, also possess a very intriguing narrative that involves not only mathematicians but also philosophers and theologians¹.

History of Math on PostDoc Problems

Etymology of *Integer*

History-of-Math Resources

Etymology of Integer