First Usage of Common Math Words
Tracking the earliest known uses of mathematical terminology and who coined them
•wiki
historymathlanguage
Jeff Miller's research project documents when mathematical terms first appeared in literature and which mathematicians introduced them. It covers everything from basic concepts like "function" and "variable" to specialized terms, revealing how mathematical language evolved over centuries. Leibniz coined the terms "function" and "coordinate" and Sylvester created "matrix" and "discriminant."