John Wallis (1616-1703) was one of the most original English mathematicians of his day.

He was educated at Cambridge University and entered Holy Orders, but his genius was employed chiefly in the study of mathematics.

The Arithmetica Infinitorum, published in 1655, is his greatest work. This symbol for infinity is first found in print in his 1655 publication Arithmetica Infinitorum.

The Romans commonly used the infinity symbol for a thousand, just as today the word "myriad" is used for any large number, although in Greek it meant ten thousand.

The symbol was used in expressions such as, in 1695, "jam numerus incrementorum est infinity."

Some say that the infinity symbol might have been derived from the lowercase omega symbol.

Buzz Lightyear

Infinity from Wikepedia:

The word infinity comes from the Latin infinitas or "unboundedness."

For a discussion about infinity and the physical universe, see: Universe.

In Greek philosophy, Anaximander considered the "boundless" as the origin of all that is.

He viewed the universe as "beginningless" and created from an unlimited primordial state (apeiron).

Moebius Loop

Infinity Symbol

This symbol was first given its current mathematical meaning in
"Arithmetica Infinitorum" by the British mathematician John Wallis (1616-1703).

The symbol for infinity, first chosen by John Wallis in 1655, stands for a concept which has given mathematicians problems since the time of the ancient Greeks.

A case in point is that of Zeno of Elea (in southern Italy) who, in the 5th century BC, proposed four paradoxes which addressed whether magnitudes (lengths or numbers) are infinitely divisible or made up of a large number of small indivisible parts.

Lemniscate of Bernoulli

The infinity sign devised in 1655 by mathemetician John Wallis, was named lemniscus (Latin "ribbon") by mathemetician Bernoulli about forty years later.

The symbol itself is properly called a lemniscus, a latin noun which means
"pendant ribbon" and was first used in 1694 by Jacob Bernoulli (1654-1705)
to describe a planar curve now called the Lemniscate of Bernoulli.

The mathematical symbol for infinity is called the lemniscate.

∞

Mayan Ouroboros

The infinity-snake, the ouroboros symbol (also, uroboros or uroborus) is a
serpent or a dragon biting its own tail (ourobÛroV means "tail swallower").

The symbol appeared in Egypt as early as 1600 BC, and independently in
Mesoamerica (Mayan Civilization).

It has been associated with the
entire Zodiac and the eternity of time.

The infinity-snake is the symbol of the perpetual, cyclic renewal of life.

The mythical dragon is said to be a derivative of the infinity-snake.

Click here: Draco the Dragon

See "Zeno's Arrow" paradox:

Zeno's Paradox

Click here for:

More Paradoxes

The lemniscate is patterned after the device known as a mobius strip (named after
the nineteenth century mathemetician August Ferdinand Mobius).

A mobius strip is a strip
of paper which is twisted and attached at the ends, forming an 'endless' two-
dimensional surface.

Click here: Make a Mobius Strip

The religious aspect of the infinity symbol predates its mathematical origins.

Similar symbols have been found in Tibetan rock carvings and elsewhere depicted in the shape of a lemniscate, although a plain circle is
more common (the circle symbolizes infinity in Zen Buddhism, as seen in the Yin-Yang symbol).