cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/40467081
That's one theory why x is used in math so much: in times of the printing press, the letter x was barely used so always free
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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yes, if I am not wrong, very early writings used something else, but as printing was becoming common, they wanted to use something from standard typewriter keys, and x was a good option (it also helps even the wear out i think)
I think they used whole sentences back in the days and it was in the printing press era that they started abbreviating things to letters and symbols
And you thought it was hard to find X before?
I got a guy
Cross-posted? More like x-posted!