Definition:Dot Product/Historical Note
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Historical Note on Dot Product
During the course of development of vector analysis, various notations for the dot product were introduced, as follows:
| Symbol | Used by |
|---|---|
| $\mathbf a \cdot \mathbf b$ | Josiah Willard Gibbs and Edwin Bidwell Wilson |
| $\mathbf a \mathbf b$ | Oliver Heaviside |
| $\mathscr A \mathscr B$ | Max Abraham |
| $\mathfrak A \mathfrak B$ | Vladimir Sergeyevitch Ignatowski |
| $\paren {\mathbf A \cdot \mathbf B}$ | Hendrik Antoon Lorentz |
| $\mathbf a \times \mathbf b$ | Cesare Burali-Forti and Roberto Marcolongo |
Sources
- 1921: C.E. Weatherburn: Elementary Vector Analysis ... (previous) ... (next): Table of Notations
- 1924: C.E. Weatherburn: Advanced Vector Analysis ... (previous) ... (next): Table of Notations
- 1957: D.E. Rutherford: Vector Methods (9th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text I$: Vector Algebra: $\S 3$: footnote $\dagger$