arithmetician

plural arithmeticians

1. archaicOne with expertise in arithmetic; a mathematician.

   [F]or certes, ſayes he, / I haue already choſen my officer, and what was he? / Forſooth, a great Arithmeticion, [...]

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 1

   4 more examples

   I haue read the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that euer breathed, and he reduceth thy dayes into a short number: The daies of Man are threescore and ten.

   1613, Richard Brathwait, The Yong Mans Gleanings, page 1

   But I'll tell you one thing; it's a Question that would puzzle an Arithmetician, if you ſhould ask him, whether the Bible ſaves more Souls in Weſtminſter-Abby, or damns more in Weſtminſter-Hall: […]

   1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene vi, page 59

   Bonoro. What said he? / Tycho. That he would say but three words and follow me. I heard him say a hundred, and sing a thousand: Lovers are bad arithmeticians.

   1774, David Garrick, A Christmas Tale, Part 2, Scene 1, page 13

   You talk of figures, now; you have only to say to Stelling, ‘I want my son to be a thorough arithmetician,’ and you may leave the rest to him.

   1860, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Mr Riley Gives His Advice Concerning a School for Tom”, in The Mill on the Floss […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I (Boy and Girl), page 33