Slope why m

The root is also the progenitor of sleeve the arm slips into it and, by dropping the s in front we get lubricate and lubricious a word describing a person who is "slick", or even "slimy". Many variations of where the idea of M for slope originated seem to be mostly myth. One of the most common is that the letter was used by Descarte because it was the first letter of some French word or another that related.

I inquired, and she said because of the "American" word "slope. It is not known why the letter m was chosen for slope; the choice may have been arbitrary. John Conway has suggested m could stand for "modulus of slope. However, there is no evidence to make any such connection. Descartes, who was French, did not use m.

Eves suggests "it just happened. The earliest known use of m for slope appears in Vincenzo Riccati? Aequationes primi gradus construere.

This use of m was found by Dr. In Analytic Geometry by Arthur M. Harding and George W. Since in Russian the slope is called 'the angle coefficient' and the word coefficient is spelled with k in the Cyrillic alphabet, usually nobody questioned the use of k.

Descartes, who was French, did not use m. They end with this witticism by Howard W. Eves who taught at my alma mater of U. Maine, although before my time : When lecturing before an analytic geometry class during the early part of the course Compare to k for "koefficient" in Swedish textbooks, per Wolfram. Posted by Delta at AM. December 14, at PM. Delta December 21, at AM. Newer Post Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments Atom. M in equations is short for the Greek letter Mu.

I'm guessing that in that particular instance m indicates a multiplier of x. The letter m stands for slope because it comes from the French word monter, to climb. Brainyblonde Answer has 11 votes. Brainyblonde 21 year member replies Answer has 11 votes. Currently voted the best answer. Why call slope m has been a question that has been researched by math historians but has not been answered definitively yet.

Erica Voolich Many people have been taught that it comes from the French, "monter", to climb. I think this is an "urban legend".

John Conway Former Mathematics book writer, M. Risi answered "In our system, the first letters of the alphabet, a, b , c