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Mathematical Symbols
List of all mathematical symbols and signs - meaning and examples.

Basic math symbols

Geometry symbols

Algebra symbols

Probability & statistics symbols

Set theory symbols

Logic symbols

Calculus & analysis symbols

Number symbols

Greeksymbols

Roman numerals

Basic math symbols

Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition

= equals sign equality

not equal sign inequality

> strict inequality greater than

< strict inequality less than

 inequality greater than or equal to

inequality less than or equal to

() parentheses calculate expression inside first

[] brackets calculate expression inside first

+ plus sign addition

minus sign subtraction

plus - minus both plus and minus operations

minus - plus both minus and plus operations

* asterisk multiplication

times sign multiplication

multiplication dot multiplication

division sign / obelus division

/ division slash division

horizontal line division / fraction

mod modulo remainder calculation

decimal point, decimal

. period
separator

ab power exponent

a^b caret exponent

a square root a a = a

3
a cube root 3
a 3a 3a = a

4
a fourth root a 4a 4a 4a = a
4
 n n-th root (radical)
a
% percent 1% = 1/100

per-mille 1 = 1/1000 = 0.1%

ppm per-million 1ppm = 1/1000000

ppb per-billion 1ppb = 1/1000000000

ppt per-trillion 1ppt = 10-12

Geometry symbols
Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition

angle formed by two rays

measured angle

spherical angle

right angle = 90

degree 1 turn = 360

arcminute 1 = 60

arcsecond 1 = 60

line infinite line

AB line segment line from point A to point B

ray line that start from point A

arc arc from point A to point B

| perpendicular perpendicular lines (90 angle)

|| parallel parallel lines

equivalence of geometric
congruent to
shapes and size
 similarity same shapes, not same size
~
triangle triangle shape

|x-y| distance distance between points x and y

= 3.141592654...
is the ratio between the
pi constant
circumference and diameter of

a circle

rad radians radians angle unit

grad grads grads angle unit

Algebra symbols
Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition

x x variable unknown value to find

equivalence identical to

equal by definition equal by definition

:= equal by definition equal by definition

~ approximately equal weak approximation

approximately equal approximation

proportional to proportional to

lemniscate infinity symbol

much less than much less than

much greater than much greater than

() parentheses calculate expression inside first

[] brackets calculate expression inside first

 {} braces set

x floor brackets rounds number to lower integer

x ceiling brackets rounds number to upper integer

x! exclamation mark factorial

|x| single vertical bar absolute value

f (x) function of x maps values of x to f(x)

(f g) function composition (f g) (x) = f (g(x))

(a,b) open interval (a,b) = {x | a < x < b}

[a,b] closed interval [a,b] = {x | a x b}

delta change / difference

discriminant = b2 - 4ac
summation - sum of all values in
sigma
range of series

sigma double summation

product - product of all values in

capital pi
range of series

e e constant / Euler's number e = 2.718281828...

Euler-Mascheroni constant = 0.527721566...

golden ratio golden ratio constant

= 3.141592654...
is the ratio between the
pi constant
circumference and diameter of

a circle

Linear Algebra Symbols

 Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition

dot scalar product

cross vector product

tensor product of A
AB tensor product
and B

inner product

[] brackets matrix of numbers

() parentheses matrix of numbers

determinant of matrix
|A| determinant
A
determinant of matrix
det(A) determinant
A

|| x double vertical bars norm

||

AT transpose matrix transpose

matrix conjugate
A Hermitian matrix
transpose

matrix conjugate
A* Hermitian matrix
transpose

A -1 inverse matrix A A-1 = I

rank(A) matrix rank rank of matrix A

dimension of matrix
dim(U) dimension A

Probability and statistics symbols

Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition

P(A) probability function probability of event A

probability of events probability that of events A and

P(A B) intersection B

P(A B) probability of events union probability that of events A or B

 probability of event A given
P(A | B) conditional probability function
event B occured
probability density function
f (x) (pdf) P(a x b) = f (x) dx
cumulative distribution function
F(x) (cdf) F(x) = P(X x)

population mean mean of population values

expected value of random

E(X) expectation value
variable X
expected value of random
E(X | Y) conditional expectation
variable X given Y

var(X) variance variance of random variable X

2 variance variance of population values

standard deviation of random

std(X) standard deviation
variable X
standard deviation value of
X standard deviation
random variable X

middle value of random variable

median
x
covariance of random variables
cov(X,Y) covariance
X and Y
correlation of random variables
corr(X,Y) correlation
X and Y
correlation of random variables
X,Y correlation
X and Y

summation - sum of all values in

summation
range of series

double summation double summation

value that occurs most

Mo mode
frequently in population

MR mid-range MR = (xmax+xmin)/2

half the population is below this

Md sample median
value
25% of population are below
Q1 lower / first quartile
this value

50% of population are below

Q2 median / second quartile this value = median of samples
 75% of population are below
Q3 upper / third quartile
this value

x sample mean average / arithmetic mean

population samples variance

s2 sample variance
estimator

population samples standard

s sample standard deviation
deviation estimator

zx standard score zx = (x-x) / sx

distribution of random variable

X~ distribution of X
X

N(,2) normal distribution gaussian distribution

U(a,b) uniform distribution equal probability in range a,b

exp() exponential distribution f (x) = e-x , x0

f (x) = c xc-1e-x / (c),

gamma(c, ) gamma distribution
x0

f (x) = xk/2-1e-x/2 / ( 2k/2

2
(k) chi-square distribution
(k/2) )

F (k1, k2) F distribution

Bin(n,p) binomial distribution f (k) = nCk pk(1-p)n-k

Poisson() Poisson distribution f (k) = ke- / k!

Geom(p) geometric distribution f (k) = p (1-p) k

HG(N,K,n) hyper-geometric distribution

Bern(p) Bernoulli distribution

Combinatorics Symbols
Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition

n! factorial n! = 123...n
 nPk permutation

nCk
combination

Set theory symbols

Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition

{} set a collection of elements

AB intersection objects that belong to set A and set B

AB union objects that belong to set A or set B

subset has fewer elements or equal to

AB subset
the set

AB proper subset / strict subset subset has fewer elements than the set

AB not subset left set not a subset of right set

set A has more elements or equal to the

AB superset
set B

AB proper superset / strict superset set A has more elements than set B

AB not superset set A is not a superset of set B

2A power set all subsets of A

power set all subsets of A

A=B equality both sets have the same members

Ac complement all the objects that do not belong to set A

A\B relative complement objects that belong to A and not to B

relative complement objects that belong to A and not to B

 A-B
objects that belong to A or B but not to
AB symmetric difference
their intersection
objects that belong to A or B but not to
A B symmetric difference
their intersection

aA element of set membership

xA not element of no set membership

(a,b) ordered pair collection of 2 elements

AB cartesian product set of all ordered pairs from A and B

|A| cardinality the number of elements of set A

#A cardinality the number of elements of set A

aleph-null infinite cardinality of natural numbers set

cardinality of countable ordinal numbers

aleph-one
set

empty set ={}

universal set set of all possible values

natural numbers / whole numbers set

0 (with zero) 0 = {0,1,2,3,4,...}

natural numbers / whole numbers set

1 (without zero) 1 = {1,2,3,4,5,...}

integer numbers set = {...-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,...}

rational numbers set = {x | x=a/b, a,b }

real numbers set = {x | - < x <}

= {z | z=a+bi, -<a<, -
complex numbers set
<b<}

Logic symbols
Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition
 and and

^ caret / circumflex and

& ampersand and

+ plus or

reversed caret or

| vertical line or

x' single quote not - negation

x bar not - negation

not not - negation

! exclamation mark not - negation

circled plus / oplus exclusive or - xor

~ tilde negation

implies

equivalent if and only if (iff)

equivalent if and only if (iff)

for all

there exists

there does not exists

therefore

because / since

Calculus & analysis symbols

Symbol Symbol Name Meaning / definition
 limit limit value of a function

represents a very small number,

epsilon
near zero

e e constant / Euler's number e = 2.718281828...

y' derivative derivative - Lagrange's notation

y '' second derivative derivative of derivative

y(n) nth derivative n times derivation

derivative derivative - Leibniz's notation

second derivative derivative of derivative

nth derivative n times derivation

derivative by time - Newton's

time derivative
notation

time second derivative derivative of derivative

Dx y derivative derivative - Euler's notation

Dx2 y second derivative derivative of derivative

partial derivative

integral opposite to derivation

integration of function of 2
double integral
variables
integration of function of 3
triple integral
variables

closed contour / line integral

closed surface integral

 closed volume integral

[a,b] closed interval [a,b] = {x | a x b}

(a,b) open interval (a,b) = {x | a < x < b}

i imaginary unit i -1

z* complex conjugate z = a+bi z*=a-bi

z complex conjugate z = a+bi z = a-bi

nabla / del gradient / divergence operator

vector

unit vector

x*y convolution y(t) = x(t) * h(t)

Laplace transform F(s) = {f (t)}

Fourier transform X() = {f (t)}

delta function

lemniscate infinity symbol

Numeral symbols
Name European Roman Hebrew

zero 0

one 1 I
two 2 II
three 3 III
four 4 IV
five 5 V
 six 6 VI
seven 7 VII
eight 8 VIII
nine 9 IX
ten 10 X
eleven 11 XI
twelve 12 XII
thirteen 13 XIII
fourteen 14 XIV
fifteen 15 XV
sixteen 16 XVI
seventeen 17 XVII
eighteen 18 XVIII
nineteen 19 XIX
twenty 20 XX
thirty 30 XXX
fourty 40 XL
fifty 50 L
sixty 60 LX
seventy 70 LXX
eighty 80 LXXX
ninety 90 XC
one hundred 100 C

Greek alphabet letters

Greek Symbol
Greek Letter Name English Equivalent
Upper Case Lower Case
 Alpha al-fa

Beta be-ta

Gamma ga-ma

Delta del-ta

Epsilon ep-si-lon

Zeta ze-ta

Eta eh-ta

Theta te-ta

Iota io-ta

Kappa ka-pa

Lambda lam-da

Mu m-yoo

Nu noo

Xi x-ee

Omicron o-mee-c-ron

Pi pa-yee

Rho row

Sigma sig-ma

Tau ta-oo

Upsilon oo-psi-lon

Phi f-ee

Chi kh-ee

Psi p-see

Omega o-me-ga

Roman numerals
Number Roman numeral

0 not defined

1 I

2 II

3 III

4 IV

5 V

6 VI

7 VII

8 VIII

9 IX

10 X

11 XI

12 XII

13 XIII

14 XIV

15 XV

16 XVI

17 XVII

18 XVIII

19 XIX

20 XX
 30 XXX

40 XL

50 L

60 LX

70 LXX

80 LXXX

90 XC

100 C

200 CC

300 CCC

400 CD

500 D

600 DC

700 DCC

800 DCCC

900 CM

1000 M

5000 V

10000 X

50000 L

100000 C

500000 D

1000000 M

See also