Robert Recorde

Hello! My name is Robert Recorde. I was born a very long time ago, around the year 1512, in a lovely town called Tenby in Wales. Even when I was a little boy, I loved numbers and learning new things. I thought the world was full of interesting puzzles, and I wanted to figure them all out!

When I grew up, I went to study at famous universities called Oxford and Cambridge. I became a doctor, but my biggest passion was mathematics. Back then, most books about important subjects like math were written in a language called Latin. Not many people could understand Latin, so it was hard for them to learn. I had a big idea! I thought, 'Why not write books in English so everyone can learn?'. So, in 1543, I wrote my first math book in English. It was called 'The Ground of Artes,' and it helped many people understand arithmetic.

As I wrote my books, I got very tired of writing the words 'is equal to' over and over again. It took up so much space and time! For my next book, 'The Whetstone of Witte,' which I wrote in 1557, I came up with a clever shortcut. I drew two short, straight lines, one right above the other, just like this: =. I thought to myself, 'No two things can be more equal than two parallel lines!'. That is how I invented the equals sign that you use in your math class every single day.

My life came to an end in the year 1558. I lived to be about 48 years old. Even though I am no longer here, I am so happy that my work lives on. My books helped people all over England learn math in their own language. And best of all, every time you write that little symbol to show that two things are the same, you are using my invention. My simple idea, the equals sign, is now used by people all over the world!