Who invented or used very first the double lined symbols $\mathbb{R},\mathbb{Q},\mathbb{N}$ etc. to represent the real number system, rational number system, natural number system respectively?
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2The story I heard somewhere (Knuth's Texbook?) is that they are as so because forming boldface symbols on a chalkboard is difficult; hence "blackboard bold". – David Mitra Jul 21 '14 at 11:09
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A Wikipedia page that seems to be relevant:
$\ldots$ blackboard bold in fact originated from the attempt to write bold letters on blackboards in a way that clearly differentiated them from non-bold letters, and then made its way back in print form as a separate style from ordinary bold, possibly starting with the original 1965 edition of Gunning and Rossi's textbook on complex analysis.
It is sometimes erroneously claimed that Bourbaki introduced the blackboard bold notation, but whereas individual members of the Bourbaki group may have popularized double-striking bold characters on the blackboard, their printed books use ordinary bold $\ldots$
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It may be worth pointing out, however, that in the 1965 edition of Gunning/Rossi, the symbol for the real numbers looks different from $\mathbb{R}$. It is a serif-less R with thin strokes, and only the vertical line on the left doubled. Apparently, tastes changed since then. – Daniel Fischer Jul 21 '14 at 12:10
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I have no references here, just stories my professor told us. As far as I know, the double lines were not double lines in the beginning, but rather boldened lines, so people wrote R with a slightly thicker vertical line to denote the real numbers.
The laziness of mathematitians and difficulty of writing a bolder line that students will recognise on a blackboard led to professors writing double lines instead of bold lines, and the practice stuck.
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