Oatred, W. - Oatred

Japanese: オートレッド，W. - おーとれっど

...A tool designed to simplify calculations such as multiplication and division, as well as squares, cubes, and trigonometric functions. The original slide rule was invented in 1620 by the Englishman Edmund Gunter (1581-1626) using a logarithmic scale. It was later improved by William Oughtred (1574-1660) and others, and the first slide rule with a cursor in its current form was made by the Frenchman Amédée Mannheim (1831-1906) around 1850. It consists of two rulers, a fixed platform rule and a sliding ruler that can be moved parallel to it, both of which have the same scale markings. By sliding one of them to align the scales, it is possible to add or subtract logarithmic values and calculate the product or quotient of two numbers. ...

From [Mathematical symbols]

…In the appendix to the second edition (1618) of J. Napier's English translation of his book on logarithms (translated by E. Wright), x was used as the multiplication symbol. It is said that W. Oughtred (1574-1660) was the first to use × (1631). The symbol × was originally used in a variety of ways. …

*Some of the terminology that mentions "Oughtred, W." is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…乗除算をはじめとし，平方，立方，三角関数などの計算を簡便にできるようにくふうされた器具。1620年，イギリスのガンターEdmund Gunter(1581‐1626)の考案した対数目盛を応用したものが計算尺の原型で，その後オートレッドWilliam Oughtred(1574‐1660)らによって改良が加えられ，カーソルがついた現在の形の計算尺は，1850年ころフランスのマネームAmédée Mannheim(1831‐1906)のものが最初である。固定された台尺とこれに平行に動かせる滑尺と呼ばれる2種類のものさしからなり，どちらにも同じ尺度の目盛が刻まれていて，一方を滑らせ目盛を合わせることにより，対数の値の加減を求めて2数の積と商を計算することができる。…