On 11 Jul 2012, at 03:01, Leif Halvard Silli wrote: > Hans Aberg, Tue, 10 Jul 2012 22:41:26 +0200: >> On 10 Jul 2012, at 21:30, Asmus Freytag wrote: >>> On 7/10/2012 3:50 AM, Leif Halvard Silli wrote: >>>> Asmus Freytag, Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:32:47 -0700: >>>>> The European use (this is not limited to Scandinavia) >>>> Thanks. It seems to me that that this tradition is not without a link >>>> to the (also) European tradition of *not* using the DIVISION SIGN (÷) >>>> for division. >>> >>> Is it _ever_ used for division? I'm curious, right now I can't >>> recall ever having seen an example. >> >> The WP "Obelus" article says that it was used as a sign for division >> in 1659, otherwise used for subtraction, continued in Norway, and >> until recently, in Denmark. >> >> 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. Hans
