One good example is the symbol of equality, “=.” This relation was mostly expressed with words in the beginning. Later [René Descartes in France started using the rotated Taurus symbol, “∝,” while [Gottfried Wilhelm] Leibniz in Germany used a wedgelike shape. And [before Descartes and Leibniz] Robert Recorde in [the U.K.] invented the equality sign we use today, though in an elongated form.