I know that "norm" is the formal name for length, but where did this name came from? or from what language is came from?
Thank you in advance.
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Hamilton apparently used it in 1856 for complex numbers. – almagest Jun 20 '16 at 10:13
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2As usual, see the entry in Jeff Miller's Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics. – Jun 20 '16 at 10:22
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Largely duplicate of this question. – Eric Postpischil Jul 17 '20 at 17:15
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It is derived from the Latin word norma, which means rule or standard. ‘Ruler’ — a straight stick that measures length — has the same origin, which is pretty much the same as what a norm does in mathematics.
molarmass
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I agree that is the etymology of "norm" in its ordinary English usage. But how did it come to be used in maths? – almagest Jun 20 '16 at 10:12