List of mathematical symbols by subject

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This list of mathematical symbols by subject shows a selection of the most common symbols that are used in modern mathematical notation within formulas,
grouped by mathematical topic. As it is virtually impossible to list all the symbols ever used in mathematics, 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 be
found in the respective linked articles.

Contents

1 Guide

2 Set theory
o 2.1 Definition symbols
o 2.2 Set construction
o 2.3 Set operations
o 2.4 Set relations
o 2.5 Number sets
o 2.6 Cardinality

3 Arithmetic
o 3.1 Arithmetic operators

o 3.2 Equality signs

o 3.3 Comparison
o 3.4 Divisibility
o 3.5 Intervals
o 3.6 Elementary functions
o 3.7 Complex numbers
o 3.8 Mathematical constants

4 Calculus
o 4.1 Sequences and series
o 4.2 Functions
o 4.3 Limits
o 4.4 Asymptotic behaviour
o 4.5 Differential calculus
o 4.6 Integral calculus
o 4.7 Vector calculus
o 4.8 Topology
o 4.9 Functional analysis

5 Linear algebra and geometry

o 5.1 Elementary geometry

o 5.2 Vectors and matrices
o 5.3 Vector calculus
o 5.4 Matrix calculus
o 5.5 Vector spaces

6 Algebra
o 6.1 Relations
o 6.2 Group theory
o 6.3 Field theory
o 6.4 Ring theory

7 Combinatorics

8 Stochastics
o 8.1 Probability theory
o 8.2 Statistics

9 Logic
o 9.1 Operators
o 9.2 Quantifiers
o 9.3 Deduction symbols

10 See also

11 References

12 External links

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.

Interpretation: A short textual description of the meaning of the formula in the previous column.

Article: The Wikipedia article that discusses the meaning (semantics) of the symbol.

LaTeX: The LaTeX command that creates the icon. Characters from the ASCII character set can be used directly, with a few exceptions (pound sign #,
backslash \, braces {}, and percent sign %). High-and low-position is indicated via the characters ^ and _ 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 can &#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 the opening and the closing forms are specified.

Set theory
Definition symbols
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
is defined by

Article
Definition

LaTeX
:

is defined as equal to
is defined as equivalent to

Set construction
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
empty set

Article

\varnothing,
\emptyset
\{ \}

Empty set

set consisting of the elements , and so on

set of elements , that satisfy the condition

LaTeX

Set (mathematics)

&

\mid
\colon

Set operations
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
union of the sets and
intersection of the sets and
difference of sets and
symmetric difference of sets and
Cartesian product of sets and
disjoint union of sets and
disjoint intersection of sets and

Article
Union (set theory)
Intersection (set theory)
Difference (set theory)
Symmetric difference
Cartesian product
Disjoint union

complement of the set

Complement (set theory)

power set of the set

Power set

LaTeX
\cup

&

\cap

&

\setminus
\triangle

&

\times

&

\dot\cup
\sqcup
\mathrm{C}
\bar
\mathcal{P}
\mathfrak{P}

Set relations
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
is a proper subset of
is a subset of

Article

LaTeX
\subset

Subset

&

\subsetneq
\subseteq
\supset

&
&

is a proper superset of
is a superset of

\supsetneq

Superset

\supseteq
\in

element is in the set

Element (mathematics)
element is not in the set
Note: The symbols

and

\ni, \owns

&
&
&

\notin

&

\not\ni

are used inconsistently and often do not exclude the equality of the two quantities.

Number sets
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
natural numbers
integers
rational numbers
algebraic numbers
real numbers
complex numbers
quaternions

Article
Natural number
Integer
Rational number
Algebraic number
Real number
Complex number
Quaternion

LaTeX
\mathbb{N}
\mathbb{Z}
\mathbb{Q}
\mathbb{A}
\mathbb{R}
\mathbb{C}
\mathbb{H}

Cardinality
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
Cardinality

Cardinality of the continuum

Aleph number

\mathfrak{c}

Beth number

\beth

, ...

, ...

Beth numbers

Arithmetic operators

LaTeX
\vert

cardinality of the set

cardinality of the continuum
infinite cardinals

Arithmetic

Article
\#

\aleph

Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article

added to

Addition

subtracted from

Subtraction

multiplied by

Multiplication

divided by

Division (mathematics)

LaTeX
+
-

&
\cdot
\times
:

&
&

&

\div

&

\frac

negative of the number or the additive iInverse of

plus or minus
minus or plus

Unary minus

term is evaluated first

Bracket

Plus or minus sign

&

\pm

&

\mp
( )
[ ]

Equality signs
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
equals
does not equal
is identical to
is approximately equal to

Article
Equality (mathematics)
Inequality (mathematics)
Identity (mathematics)
Approximation

is proportional to

Proportionality (mathematics)

corresponds to

LaTeX
=
\neq

&

\equiv

&

&
&
&

Correspondence (mathematics)

\approx
\sim
\propto
\widehat{=}

Article
Comparison (mathematics)

<

&

>

&
&

See also: Equals sign

Comparison
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
is less than
is greater than
is less than or equal to

LaTeX

\le, \leq

\leqq
\ge, \geq
\geqq

is greater than or equal to

is much smaller than
is much bigger than

&

\ll
\gg

Divisibility
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
divides
does not divide
and are relatively prime

Article
Divisibility

\nmid

Relatively prime

greatest common divisor of und

Greatest common divisor

least common multiple of und

Least common multiple

and are congruent modulo

LaTeX
\mid

Modular arithmetic

\perp
\sqcap
\wedge
\sqcup
\vee
\equiv

Intervals
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article

LaTeX

closed interval between and

open interval between and
right-open interval between and

Interval (mathematics)

( )
[ ]

Article
Absolute value

\vert

left-open interval between and

Elementary functions
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
absolute value of

&

LaTeX

&

[ ]

biggest whole number less than or equal to

Floor and ceiling functions

smallest whole number greater than or equal to

\lfloor \rfloor
\lceil \rceil

square root of
-th root of
Percent

Square root
nth root
Percent

\sqrt

&
&
&
&
&

\%

Note: the power function is not represented by its own icon, but by the positioning of the exponent as a superscript.

Complex numbers
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article

LaTeX

real part of complex number

imaginary part of complex number

Complex number

complex conjugate of

Complex conjugate

\bar
\ast

Absolute value

\vert

absolute value of complex number

Remark: real and complex parts of a complex number are often also denoted by

and

\Re
\Im

&

Mathematical constants
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
pi (Archimedes' constant)
Euler's constant
golden ratio
imaginary unit (square root of 1)

See also: mathematical constant for symbols of additional mathematical constants.

Calculus
Sequences and series

Article
Pi
e (mathematics)
Golden ratio
Imaginary unit

LaTeX
\pi

&

e
\varphi
i

&

Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
sum from

or over all elements in set

LaTeX

Summation

\sum

&

Product (mathematics)

\prod

&

Coproduct

\coprod

sequence of elements

Sequence

( )

sequence
tends to limit
tends to infinity

Limit of a sequence
Infinity

\to

&

\infty

&

product from

to

Article

to

coproduct from

or over all elements in set

to

or over all elements in set

Functions
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
function maps from set

Article

LaTeX
\to

to set

&

Function (mathematics)
\mapsto

function maps element to element

image of element under function
image of set

Limits

under function

Image (mathematics)

( )
[ ]

restriction of function to set

placeholder for a variable as argument of function
inverse function of
composition of functions and
convolution of functions and

Restriction (mathematics)
Free variable
Inverse function
Function composition
Convolution

\vert

Fourier transform of function

Fourier transform

\hat

\cdot
-1
\circ
\ast

&

Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article

LaTeX
\uparrow

limit of function as approaches from below

limit of function as approaches

&

\nearrow

Limit of a function

\to

&

\searrow

limit of function as approaches from above

\downarrow

&

Asymptotic behaviour
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
is asymptotically equal to function
grows slower than
grows not substantially faster than
grows as fast as
grows not substantially slower than
grows faster than

Article
Asymptotic analysis

Interpretation
first or second derivative of function

Article

function
function
function
function
function
function

LaTeX
\sim

&

o
\mathcal{O}

Big O notation

\Theta

&

\Omega

&

\omega

&

Differential calculus
Symbol

Usage

&

\dot, \ddot

first or second derivative of function with respect to time (in physics)

-th derivative of function

LaTeX
\prime

Differentiation (mathematics)

derivative of function with respect to variable

( )
d

total differential of function

Total differential

partial derivative of function with respect to variable

Partial derivative

\partial

&

Integral calculus
Symbol

Usage
,

Interpretation

Article

LaTeX

definite integral between and or over set

Integral

\int

curve integral along curve

Curve integral

\oint

surface integral over surface

Surface integral

\iint

volume integral over volume

Volume integral

\iiint

&

See also: Extensions of the integral symbol

Vector calculus
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article
Gradient
Divergence
Curl (mathematics)
Laplace operator
D'Alembert operator

gradient of function
divergence of vector field
curl of vector field
Laplace operator of function
D'Alembert operator of function

LaTeX
\nabla

&

\Delta

&

\square

Topology
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
boundary of set
interior of set
closure of set
punctured neighbourhood

Functional analysis

of point

Article
Boundary (topology)
Interior (topology)
Closure (topology)
Punctured neighbourhood

LaTeX
\partial

&

\circ

&

\bar
\dot

Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
topological dual space of topological vector space
bidual space of normed vector space
completion of metric space
embedding of topological vector space into

Article

LaTeX

Dual space

\prime

Complete metric space

Embedding

\hat

&

\hookrightarrow

Linear algebra and geometry

Elementary geometry
Symbol

Usage
line segment between points

Interpretation
and

length of line segment between points

and

Article

LaTeX
[ ]

Line segment

\vert
\overline

vector between points and

angle between line segments
and
triangle with vertices , and
quadrilateral with vertices , , and
lines and are parallel
lines and are not parallel
lines and are orthogonal

Euclidean vector
Angle
Triangle
Quadrilateral

Interpretation
row vector comprising elements through
column vector comprising elements through

Article
Vector (mathematics and physics) \begin{pmatrix}

Parallel (geometry)
Orthogonality

\vec
\angle
\triangle
\square
\parallel
\nparallel
\perp

Vectors and matrices

Symbol

&

...
\end{pmatrix}

oder

&

matrix comprising elements

through

Matrix (mathematics)

\left(
\begin{array}{...
...

Vector calculus
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article

LaTeX
\cdot

dot product of vectors and

Dot product

&

( )

\langle \rangle &

cross product of vectors and

Cross product

triple product of vectors , and

dyadic product of vectors and
wedge product of vectors and
length of vector
norm of vector
normalized vector of vector

Triple product
Dyadic product
Wedge product
Euclidean norm
Norm (mathematics)
Unit vector

\times

&

[ ]
( )
\otimes

&

\wedge
\vert
\Vert, \|
\hat

Matrix calculus
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
product of matrices and
Hadamard product of matrices
Kronecker product of matrices
transposed matrix of matrix

and
and

Article
Matrix multiplication
Hadamard product (matrices)
Kronecker product
Transposed matrix

conjugate transpose of matrix

Conjugate transpose

inverse matrix of matrix

MoorePenrose pseudoinverse of matrix

Inverse matrix
MoorePenrose pseudoinverse

LaTeX
\cdot

&

\circ
\otimes

&

T
H
\ast
\dagger
-1
+

&
&

determinant of Matrix
norm of matrix

Determinant
Matrix norm

\vert
\Vert, \|

Vector spaces
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
sum of vector spaces and
direct sum of vector spaces and
direct product of vector spaces and
tensor product of vector spaces and
quotient space of vector space by subspace
orthogonal complement of subspace
dual space of vector space
annihilator space of the set of vectors
linear hull of the set of vectors

Article
Direct sum of modules
Direct product
Tensor product
Quotient space (linear algebra)
Orthogonal complement
Dual space
Linear hull

LaTeX
+
\oplus

&

\times

&

\otimes

&

&

\perp

&

\ast

&

\langle \rangle &

Algebra
Relations
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
composition of relations

and

Article
Composition of relations

operation of elements and (general)

Operation (mathematics)

order relation between elements and

element is a predecessor of element
element is a successor of element
equivalence relation between elements and
equivalence class of element
quotient set of set
by equivalence relation
inverse relation of relation
transitive closure of relation

Order relation
Successor ordinal
Equivalence relation
Equivalence class
Quotient set
Inverse relation
Transitive closure

LaTeX
\circ
\bullet
\ast
\leq

&
&
&

\prec
\succ
\sim

&

[ ]
/
-1
+

&

reflexive closure of relation

Reflexive closure

\ast

&

Group theory
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
groups

and

Article

are isomorphic

Group isomorphism

direct product of groups and

semidirect product of groups and
wreath product of groups and
is a subgroup of group
is a proper subgroup of group
is a normal subgroup of group
quotient group of group by normal subgroup
index of subgroup in in group
subgroup generated by set
commutator of elements and

Direct product
Semidirect product
Wreath product
Subgroup
Normal subgroup
Quotient group
Index of a subgroup
Generating set of a group
Commutator

LaTeX
\simeq
\cong
\times

&
&

\rtimes
\wr
\leq

&

\lt

&

\vartriangleleft

&

\colon

\langle \rangle &

[ ]

Field theory
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article

LaTeX
/

extension of field

over field

Field extension

degree of field extension over

algebraic closure of field
field of real or complex numbers
finite field

Degree of a field extension

Algebraic closure
Field (mathematics)
Finite field

&

\mid
\colon
\bar
\mathbb{K}
\mathbb{F}

Ring theory
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
group of units of ring

Article
Group of units

LaTeX
\ast
\times

&
&

is an ideal of ring
quotient ring of ring by ideal
polynomial ring over ring with variable

Ideal (ring theory)

Quotient ring
Polynomial ring

\vartriangleleft
/

&

[ ]

Combinatorics
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
number of permutations of elements
number of derangements of elements (permutations without fixed points)
number of involutions without fixed points ( odd)
number of -combinations of elements without repetition

Factorial
Derangement
Double factorial
Combination

number of permutations of

Multinomial coefficient

elements of which

number of -combinations of elements with repetition

rising factorial from with factors
falling factorial from with factors
product of all primes up to

are identical

Article

LaTeX
!

\binom

Multiset
Pochhammer symbol
Primorial

\overline
\underline
\#

Stochastics
Probability theory
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
probability of event
probability of event given event
expected value of the random variable
variance of the random variable
standard deviation of the random variable
covariance of random variables and
correlation of random variables and
random variable has distribution
random variable has distribution approximately

Article
Probability measure
Conditional probability
Expected value
Variance
Standard deviation
Covariance
Correlation
Probability distribution

LaTeX
P
\mid
E
V
\sigma

&

\rho

&

\sim

&

\approx

&

Remark: for operators there are several notational variants; instead of round brackets also square brackets are used

Statistics
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
average of the values
average over all values in the set
estimator for parameter

(in physics)

Article

LaTeX
\bar

Average

\langle \rangle &

Estimator

\hat

Article
Logical conjunction
Logical disjunction

\land

&

\lor

&
&
&
&
&
&

Logic
Operators
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation
proposition
proposition

and proposition
or proposition (or both)

proposition

follows from proposition

from proposition

and vice versa

follows proposition

either proposition

or proposition

not proposition

Logical equivalence
Logical consequence
Exclusive or
Logical negation

LaTeX

\Leftrightarrow
\leftrightarrow

\Rightarrow
\rightarrow
\oplus
\veebar
\dot\lor
\lnot
\bar

&

See also: Further symbols for binary connectives

Quantifiers
Symbol

Usage

Interpretation

Article

LaTeX
\forall

for all elements

Universal quantification

&

\bigwedge
\exists

&

at least one element exists

Existential quantification

\bigvee
\exists

exactly one element exists

Uniqueness quantification

no element exists

Existential quantification

&

\dot\bigvee
\nexists

Deduction symbols
Symbol

Usage
proposition
proposition

Interpretation
can be syntactically derived from proposition
follows semantically from proposition

Article
Propositional calculus
Inference

proposition

is universally true

Tautology (logic)

proposition
proposition
proposition

is contradictory
is true, therefore proposition
is true, because is true

Contradiction
is true

end of proof

See also

List of mathematical symbols

Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering

ISO 31-11 (Mathematical signs and symbols for use in physical sciences and technology)

Latin letters used in mathematics

List of mathematical abbreviations

Mathematical alphanumeric symbols

Deductive reasoning
Q.E.D.

LaTeX
\vdash
\models
\top
\bot
\therefore
\because
\blacksquare
\Box

&

Mathematical constants and functions

Mathematical notation

Mathematical operators and symbols in Unicode

Notation in probability and statistics

Physical constants

Table of logic symbols

Table of mathematical symbols by introduction date

Unicode block

References

Tilo Arens, Frank Hettlich, Christian Karpfinger, Ulrich Kockelkorn, Klaus Lichtenegger, Hellmuth Stachel (2011), Mathematik (in German) (2. ed.),
Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, pp. 1483ff., ISBN 3-827-42347-3

Wolfgang Hackbusch (2010), Taschenbuch der Mathematik, Band 1 (in German) (3. ed.), Springer, pp. 1275ff., ISBN 3-835-10123-4

Deutsches Institut fr Normung: DIN 1302: Allgemeine mathematische Zeichen und Begriffe, Beuth-Verlag, 1999.

Deutsches Institut fr Normung: DIN 1303: Vektoren, Matrizen, Tensoren; Zeichen und Begriffe, Beuth-Verlag, 1987.

International Standards Organisation: DIN EN ISO 80000-2: Gren und Einheiten Teil 2: Mathematische Zeichen fr Naturwissenschaft und Technik,
2013.

Note: This article is a translation of the German Wikipedia article de:Liste mathematischer Symbole.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mathematical symbols.

Scott Pakin (9 November 2009). "The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List" (PDF; 4,4 MB) (in German). The Comprehensive TeX Archive Network
(CTAN). Retrieved 22 July 2013.

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Mathematics-related lists

Mathematical symbols

Mathematical tables

Mathematical logic

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