This
was the question:
I ran across your website of mathematical terms. Is there
a specific name for the division bracket? We are introducing 3rd graders
to the vocabulary and symbols. Thank you.
Professor
Homunculus' answer:
The slash for division is called the solidus. Sometimes it is called
a virgule, which is a diagonal slash resembling the solidus, but with
slightly less slant. The virgule is used more to separate dates, (3/6/86)
or things like 100/mi./hr.
The colon with the line through
it is called an obelus.
The “division bracket” is
called "right parenthesis
followed by a vinculum over the dividend" (although most
people simply call it a division bracket.)
The “fraction bar” can
be called a vinculum, although it is not 100% correct.
Here is a very
good site to find out more. It gives you the dates, originators
and other history of how and when these signs came to be adopted.
By the way, I think it is very cool that you are teaching the names
of math terms to children in the third grade. You question comes up so
often, that I am surprised that more schools and teachers don't address
it.
If you are interested in
a lesson about why we give the different parts of arithmetic problems
their names, (like dividend, divisor, and quotient) and why it makes
sense to learn them, check out Names
of the numbers in basic arithmetic operations and Augends,
Addends and Commutative Property of Addition at The Math Mojo Chronicles. |
