List of mathematical symbols by subject
The following list of mathematical symbols by subject features a selection of the most common symbols used in modern mathematical notation within formulas, grouped by mathematical topic. As it is impossible to know if a complete list existing today of all symbols used in history is a representation of all ever used in history, as this would necessitate knowing if extant records are of all usages, only those symbols which occur often in mathematics or mathematics education are included. Many of the characters are standardized, for example in DIN 1302 General mathematical symbols or DIN EN ISO 80000-2 Quantities and units – Part 2: Mathematical signs for science and technology.
The following list is largely limited to non-alphanumeric characters. It is divided by areas of mathematics and grouped within sub-regions. Some symbols have a different meaning depending on the context and appear accordingly several times in the list. Further information on the symbols and their meaning can also be found in the respective linked articles.
Guide[]
The following information is provided for each mathematical symbol:
- Symbol
- The symbol as it is represented by LaTeX. If there are several typographic variants, only one of the variants is shown.
- Usage
- An exemplary use of the symbol in a formula. Letters here stand as a placeholder for numbers, variables or complex expressions. Different possible applications are listed separately.
- Articles with usage
- Examples of Wikipedia articles in which the symbol is used.
- LaTeX
- The LaTeX command that creates the icon. Characters from the ASCII character set can be used directly, with a few exceptions (e.g., pound sign #, backslash \, braces {}, and percent sign %). High-and low-position is indicated via the ^ and _ characters, and is not explicitly specified.
- HTML
- The icon in HTML, if it is defined as a named mark. Non-named characters can be indicated in the form &#xnnnn by specifying the Unicode code point of the next column. High-and low-position can be indicated via <sup></sup> and <sub></sub>.
- Unicode
- The code point of the corresponding Unicode character. Some characters are combining and require the entry of additional characters. For brackets, the code points of opening and closing forms are specified.
Set theory[]
Definition symbols[]
Symbol | Unicode character | Usage | Articles with usage | LaTeX | HTML | Unicode Hex |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
: | Definition | \colon
|
:
|
U+003A
| ||
Set construction[]
Symbol | Unicode character | Usage | Articles with usage | LaTeX | HTML | Unicode Hex |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
∅ | Empty set | \varnothing ,\emptyset
|
∅
|
U+2205
| ||
{ } | Set (mathematics) | \{ \}
|
U+007B/D
| |||
| | \mid
|
|
|
U+007C
| |||
: | \colon
|
:
|
U+003A
|
Set operations[]
Symbol | Unicode character | Usage | Articles with usage | LaTeX | HTML | Unicode Hex |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
∪ | Union (set theory) | \cup
|
∪
|
U+222A
| ||
⋃ | \bigcup
|
⋃
|
U+22C3
| |||
∩ | Intersection (set theory) | \cap
|
∩
|
U+2229
| ||
⋂ | \bigcap
|
⋂
|
U+22C2
| |||
∖ | Difference (set theory) | \setminus
|
∖
|
U+2216
| ||
∆ | Symmetric difference | \triangle
|
Δ
|
U+2206
| ||
⨯ | Cartesian product | \times
|
×
|
U+2A2F
| ||
⊍ | Disjoint union | \dot\cup
|
⊍
|
U+228D
| ||
⊎ | \uplus
|
⊎
|
U+228E
| |||
⊔ | \sqcup
|
⊔
|
U+2294
| |||
⩀ | Intersection (set theory) | \dot\cap
|
⩀
|
U+2A40
| ||
⊓ | \sqcap
|
⊓
|
U+2293
| |||
⩄ | \capwedge
|
⩄
|
U+2A44
| |||
⫛ | Transversal intersection | \mlcp
|
⫛
|
U+2ADB
| ||
∁ | Complement (set theory) | \mathrm{C}
|
∁
|
U+2201
| ||
◌̄ | \bar
|
̄
|
U+0304
| |||
◌̅ | \overline{A}
|
U+0305
| ||||