Johannes Widmann (c. 1460 - after 1498) was a German mathematician who invented the addition (+) and the subtraction (-) signs.^[1]

Born in Eger, Bohemia, Widmann attended the University of Leipzig in the 1480s, and published Behende und hubsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmanschafft (German; i.e. Nimble and neat calculation in all trades), his work making use of the signs, in Leipzig in 1489.^[1] He died at Leipzig.

References [link]

1. ^ ^{a b} Helle, Matthias. "Johannes Widmann". FU-Berlin.de. Free University of Berlin. https://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/froetsch/manosem/Helle/Widmann.html. Retrieved 2007-09-10. ^{[dead link]}

Sources [link]

• K. Vogel, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970-1990).
• W. Kaunzner and H. Wussing (eds.), Adam Ries, Coss (B G Teubner Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Stuttgart, 1992).
• M. Cantor, Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik II (Leipzig, 1913), 228-.
• K. Fogel, Merchants' aids in practical arithmetic from the Middle Ages (Russian), Istor.-Mat. Issled. No. 23 (1978), 235-249; 359.

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