William Oughtred was an English mathematician and Anglican clergyman, born in Eton in 1574. After John Napier discovered logarithms and Edmund Gunter created the logarithmic scales upon which slide rules are based, Oughtred was the first known to use two such scales on separate rods sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division, and he is credited with being second to invent the slide rule, in about 1632. He introduced the multiplication sign and the abbreviations sin and cos for the sine and cosine functions. He studied at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, and held the rectorate of St Mary's Church, Guildford, before becoming vicar at Shalford.
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William Oughtred ( AWT-urd;5 March 1574-30 June 1660)
In Group: Clockmakers and Precision Instrument Makers, Introduction
After John Napier discovered logarithms and Edmund Gunter created the logarithmic scales (lines, or rules) upon which slide rules are based, Oughtred was the first known to use two such scales in separate rods sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division.
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