who invented the £ sign?

Answer 1

Sir Edwin Pound-Sterling, exchequer of the royal bank.

Answer 2

A wonderful source for this type of question is _A History of
Mathematical Notation_ by Florian Cajori, from which the following is
taken:

The word "radix" was used for square root in the thirteenth century or
so, and was abbreviated as "R" or R with a slash though the right leg
of the R, like the Rx symbol at pharmacies.

The symbol that looks like a check (radical sign without the "roof")
originated in Germany, in the 1500's. It started out looking quite
like a musical note. If you had a long expression under the radical
sign, the expression was put in parentheses, and later, placed with a
line over it. This is where the current symbol came from. Descartes
in his _La Geometrie_ (1637) seems to be the first to place the line
on top for grouping.

So, no one really "invented" the sign - it developed over the years.
But if you need a specific person, Descartes seems to be the one to
first use the present day version of the symbol

Answer 3

This sign is simply a capital letter L, written in old-fashioned roundhand, with one or two crossbars to show that it is being used as a symbol or abbreviation. The L stands for the Latin word libra, the name of a Roman unit of weight, which also gave rise to the abbreviation lb for a pound as a measure of weight, and to the French word livre. The symbol for the Japanese yen was probably invented by analogy with the pound and dollar symbols, as it is a capital Y with one or two bars across it.

Answer 4

In Askoxford.com it says:
This sign is simply a capital letter L, written in old-fashioned roundhand, with one or two crossbars to show that it is being used as a symbol or abbreviation. The L stands for the Latin word libra, the name of a Roman unit of weight, which also gave rise to the abbreviation lb for a pound as a measure of weight, and to the French word livre.
Sorry no one person is credited here for the idea of the sign.

Answer 5

We don't know the name of the person who 'invented' the sign, but it comes from the latin word Libra. In fact, the continentals still refer to our currency as libras (spain, italy, etc.).

Answer 6

It goes back to Roman times and and is in fact an L which stands for Lire. The sign was still used in Italy until they foolishly adopted the Euro

Answer 7

The Pound sign derives from the black-letter "L", from the abbreviation LSD – librae, solidi, denarii – used for the Pounds, Shillings and Pence of the original duodecimal currency system.
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Pound_sterling

Answer 8

Yes, the "L" certainly comes from Libra. No doubt the crossbars serve the same purpose as that on Continental "7s" - to avoid misinterpretation.

Answer 9

I think it has something to do with Libra, I did it in my latin class, but I wasn't really paying attention, so I'm not sure why. Good luck with trying to find out though! You could try google, and wikipedia. I f you can't find it in there, there are bound to be some books on interesting trivia questions in bookstores like Borders, and specialised places! x

Answer 10

Mr moneybags aka Mr Monopoly