Quartz

Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. Its crystal structure is a continuous framework of SiO₄silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO₂.

There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones. Since antiquity, varieties of quartz have been the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings, especially in Europe and the Middle East.

Etymology

The word "quartz" is derived from the German word "Quarz" and its Middle High German ancestor "twarc", which probably originated in Slavic, cf. Czech tvrdý ("hard"), Polish twardy ("hard"), Serbian and Croatian tvrd ("hard").

The Ancient Greeks referred to quartz as κρύσταλλος (krustallos) derived from the Ancient Greek κρύος (kruos) meaning "icy cold", because some philosophers (including Theophrastus) apparently believed the mineral to be a form of supercooled ice. Today, the term rock crystal is sometimes used as an alternative name for the purest form of quartz.

Crystal oscillator

A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a precise frequency. This frequency is commonly used to keep track of time, as in quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock signal for digital integrated circuits, and to stabilize frequencies for radio transmitters and receivers. The most common type of piezoelectric resonator used is the quartz crystal, so oscillator circuits incorporating them became known as crystal oscillators, but other piezoelectric materials including polycrystalline ceramics are used in similar circuits.

Quartz crystals are manufactured for frequencies from a few tens of kilohertz to hundreds of megahertz. More than two billion crystals are manufactured annually. Most are used for consumer devices such as wristwatches, clocks, radios, computers, and cellphones. Quartz crystals are also found inside test and measurement equipment, such as counters, signal generators, and oscilloscopes.

Quartz (publication)

Quartz (qz.com) is a global digital-only business news publication. It is owned by Atlantic Media Co., the publisher of The Atlantic, National Journal, and Government Executive. Its team of 150 staff members was pulled together from prominent brands in business journalism: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The New York Times." The four initial sponsors of Quartz were Boeing, Chevron, Cadillac, and Credit Suisse. Quartz's core market is global business people, with its focus on international markets. Its news articles cover global economy news, ranging from geo-political conflicts to policies and regulations.

History

Name

The name "Quartz" was chosen for various reasons. The name "Quartz" is named after a type of mineral that can be found all over the world and contributed to intense geological activity. The ability of this mineral would then associate with the brand identity, creating new brand's character: global, disruptive and digital. Furthermore, "Quartz" contains two of the rarest letters in English Language, Q and Z, making it a special-looking word. When referring to the Quartz publication website, they took off all the ordinary characters leaving behind qz.com, making it a distinctive website. Also, the fact that there are fewer letters to type into a small mobile keyboard makes it a more user-friendly website.

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register and became The Times on 1 January 1788. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by the News Corp group headed by Rupert Murdoch. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967.

In 1959, historian of journalism Allan Nevins analysed the importance of The Times in shaping the views of events of London's elite:

The Times is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, including The Times of India (founded in 1838), The Straits Times (Singapore) (1845), The New York Times (1851), The Irish Times (1859), Le Temps (France) (1861-1942), the Cape Times (South Africa) (1872), the Los Angeles Times (1881), The Seattle Times (1891), The Manila Times (1898), The Daily Times (Malawi) (1900), El Tiempo (Colombia) (1911), The Canberra Times (1926), and The Times (Malta) (1935). In these countries, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London.

Times New Roman

Times New Roman is a serif typeface commissioned by the British newspaper The Times in 1931 and created by Victor Lardent in collaboration with the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype. Although no longer used by The Times, Times New Roman is still very common in book and general printing. Through distribution with Microsoft products and as a standard computer font, it has become one of the most widely used typefaces in history.

Times New Roman's creation took place through the influence of Stanley Morison of Monotype. Morison was an artistic director at Monotype, historian of printing and informal adviser to the Times, who recommended that they change typeface from the spindly and somewhat dated nineteenth-century Didone typeface previously used to a more robust, solid design, returning to traditions of printing from the eighteenth century and before. This matched a common trend in printing of the period.

Morison proposed an older Monotype typeface named Plantin as a basis for the design, but revisions were made to increase legibility and economy of space. The new font was drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of The Times, with Morison consulting, before refinement by the experienced Monotype drawing office team.The new design made its debut in the 3 October 1932 issue of The Times. After one year, the design was released for commercial sale. The Times stayed with Times New Roman for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused the newspaper to switch typeface five times since 1972. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman typeface.

Multiplication sign

The multiplication sign or times sign is the symbol ×. The symbol is similar to the lowercase letter x but is a more symmetric saltire, and has different uses. It is also known as St. Andrew's Cross and dimension sign.

Uses

In mathematics, the symbol × (read as times or multiplied by) is primarily used to denote the

In biology, the multiplication sign is used in a botanical hybrid name, where it is read as "cross".

The multiplication sign is also used by historians for an event between two dates. When employed between two dates, for example 1225 and 1232, 1225×1232 means "no earlier than 1225 and no later than 1232". It can also be used in a date range: 1225×1232–1278.

History

The × symbol for multiplication was introduced by William Oughtred in 1631. It was chosen for religious reasons to represent the cross.