# \mathbb versus \mathbf

When was the use of \mathbb popularized as an alternative to \mathbf?

Of course there are the subjective preferences of certain authors, but when I read older articles, there appears to be an almost unanimous usage of what we would think of as \mathbf (possibly because of the use of typewriters before LaTeX), and now more recently it seems as if the use of \mathbb is becoming increasingly common.

Is there a reason for this switch in notation?

• This question has nothing to do with history of science and it is better to ask it on tex.stackexchange.com – Alexandre Eremenko Nov 20 '17 at 0:47
• It's a question about the history of notation in mathematics, and thus just as suitable for hsm as (say) a question about the history of the division symbol or the decimal point. – Michael Weiss Nov 20 '17 at 0:51
• For those who are unfamiliar with the LaTeX terminology, \mathbf (boldface) looks like this: $\mathbf R$, while \mathbb (blackboard) looks like this: $\mathbb R$. – Joel Reyes Noche Nov 20 '17 at 1:39
• FYI, I haven't looked around much (yet?), but this 1991 paper is one of the earliest papers using blackboard bold that I know of right now. – Dave L Renfro Nov 20 '17 at 15:09
• If there was a predominant use of one with the other gradually becoming increasingly common then there was no "switch in notation", just gradual change. The comments seem to confirm that this is what happened. So what exactly is the question? – Conifold Nov 21 '17 at 1:23