Anglican clergyman William Oughtred (1574-1660) is considered one of the world's great mathematicians due to his writings on the subject and his invention of the logarithmic slide rule.

Although William Oughtred was by profession an Anglican clergyman, he devoted many years of his life to expanding human understanding in the areas of algebra and calculus as well as to teaching mathematics to gifted students. Oughtred was the author of several books on mathematics and has also been credited by most historians with inventing both the linear and circular slide rules. His innovations extended to the use of many unique mathematical shorthand notations, including the notation "X" for mul tiplication and "::" for proportion.

Raised in Academic Environment

Oughtred was born in Eton, Buckinghamshire, England, on March 5, 1574. His father, Benjamin Oughtred, was a scholar who taught writing at Eton School, and through Benjamin's connections the younger Oughtred was educated as...