why did dalton think it was important to use his system of symbols for the chemical elements?
It was essential to remind people that all the matter around us has one base unit: the atom. Dalton thought it was important to use his system of symbols for the representation of chemical elements because it was helpful to remember exactly which atoms lay at the basic structure of the matter. It was easy for people to use symbols for elements in chemical formulas. He pictured the atoms as small balls and this is the same way that he depicted models of elements and compounds.