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
