The Whetstone of Witte

In the 16th century, the mathematician Robert Recorde wrote a book called The Whetstone of Witte to teach English students algebra.But he was getting tired of writing the words is equal toover and over.His solution?He replaced those words with two parallel horizontal line segments because the way he saw it,no two things can be more equal.Could he have used four line segments instead of two?Of course.10 Could he have used vertical line segments?