Plus and minus signs

The plus and minus signs (+ and −) are mathematical symbols used to represent the notions of positive and negative as well as the operations of addition and subtraction. Their use has been extended to many other meanings, more or less analogous. Plus and minus are Latin terms meaning "more" and "less", respectively.

History

Though the signs now seem as familiar as the alphabet or the Hindu-Arabic numerals, they are not of great antiquity. The Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for addition, for example, resembled a pair of legs walking in the direction in which the text was written (Egyptian could be written either from right to left or left to right), with the reverse sign indicating subtraction:

Nicole Oresme's manuscripts from the 14th century show what may be one of the earliest uses of the plus sign "+".

In Europe in the early 15th century the letters "P" and "M" were generally used. The symbols (P with line p̄ for più, i.e., plus, and M with line m̄ for meno, i.e., minus) appeared for the first time in Luca Pacioli’s mathematics compendium, Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità, first printed and published in Venice in 1494. The + is a simplification of the Latin "et" (comparable to the ampersand &). The − may be derived from a tilde written over m when used to indicate subtraction; or it may come from a shorthand version of the letter m itself. In his 1489 treatise Johannes Widmann referred to the symbols − and + as minus and mer (Modern German mehr; "more"): "was − ist, das ist minus, und das + ist das mer".

Minus (disambiguation)

Minus usually refers to the minus sign, a mathematical symbol.

Minus may also refer to:

Minus (record label)

Minus or M-nus is a recording label based in Berlin, Germany and Windsor, Canada. It was created in 1998 by Richie Hawtin when Plus 8, a label previously created by Hawtin, was put on hold. By 2005, M-nus was releasing 2 to 3 CDs and 12 to 14 records per year.

As Hawtin said of the scaling down to a smaller label, "You learn better who you are, what you are, and how to better present that and present it creatively. With Minus, we wanted to slow it down and try new things…" In 2011 Hawtin's music technology company Liine released Remiix Minus, a remix-app for iOS which enables fans to recombine loops and samples from Minus artists.

Label roster

Select (album)

Select is the second studio album by Kim Wilde, released on May 10, 1982 via RAK label.

Overview

The first single from this album, "Cambodia", was released in November 1981 and signalled a different sound from the Wilde camp, with an electronic and synth sound different from The Enid sound of her last album. The songs were again written by Marty and Ricky Wilde and produced by Ricky Wilde. The lyrics of the songs were similar to the first album: the second single "View from a Bridge" and the album track "Wendy Sadd" seemed to be about suicide, "Chaos at the Airport" described a nightmare about flying and "Ego" was quite the opposite of a lovesong. "Can You Come Over" was recorded at the Wilde's home. The cover image was a photograph from Gered Mankowitz.

This sequel to the debut album topped the charts in a host of European countries and hit #8 in Australia — although it did not surpass the success of its predecessor. The album was certified Silver in the UK.

Critical response

Select (SQL)

The SQL SELECT statement returns a result set of records from one or more tables.

A SELECT statement retrieves zero or more rows from one or more database tables or database views. In most applications, SELECT is the most commonly used data manipulation language (DML) command. As SQL is a declarative programming language, SELECT queries specify a result set, but do not specify how to calculate it. The database translates the query into a "query plan" which may vary between executions, database versions and database software. This functionality is called the "query optimizer" as it is responsible for finding the best possible execution plan for the query, within applicable constraints.

The SELECT statement has many optional clauses:

Select (magazine)

Select was a United Kingdom music magazine of the 1990s which was particularly known for covering Britpop, a term coined in the magazine by Stuart Maconie. Its 1993 "Yanks Go Home" edition, featuring The Auteurs, Denim, Saint Etienne, Pulp and Suede's Brett Anderson on the cover in front of a Union Flag, was an important impetus in defining the movement's opposition to American genres such as grunge.

The magazine launched in 1990 and folded a decade later in 2000, mirroring the rise and decline of the Britpop scene with which it became synonymous.

Tagline

Contributors

Select compilations

Over the years the magazine gave away a number of free compilations. These included:

Select 12

Cassette, Oct 1990 (launch issue)