List of mathematical symbols

List of mathematical symbols

This is a listing of common symbols found within all branches of mathematics. Each symbol is listed in both HTML, which depends on appropriate fonts being installed, and in TeX, as an image.

Contents

Symbols

Symbol
in HTML
Symbol
in TeX
Name Explanation Examples
Read as
Category
= \!\,
is equal to;
equals
everywhere
x = y means x and y represent the same thing or value. 2 = 2
1 + 1 = 2
\ne \!\,
is not equal to;
does not equal
everywhere
x ≠ y means that x and y do not represent the same thing or value.

(The forms !=, /= or <> are generally used in programming languages where ease of typing and use of ASCII text is preferred.)
2 + 2 ≠ 5
<

>
< \!\,

> \!\,
is less than,
is greater than
x < y means x is less than y.

x > y means x is greater than y.
3 < 4
5 > 4
proper subgroup
is a proper subgroup of
H < G means H is a proper subgroup of G. 5Z < Z
A3  < S3


\ll \!\,

\gg \!\,
is much less than,
is much greater than
x ≪ y means x is much less than y.

x ≫ y means x is much greater than y.
0.003 ≪ 1000000
asymptotic comparison
is of smaller order than,
is of greater order than
f ≪ g means the growth of f is asymptotically bounded by g.

(This is I. M. Vinogradov's notation. Another notation is the Big O notation, which looks like f = O(g).)
x ≪ ex


\le \!\,

\ge \!\,
is less than or equal to,
is greater than or equal to
x ≤ y means x is less than or equal to y.

x ≥ y means x is greater than or equal to y.

(The forms <= and >= are generally used in programming languages where ease of typing and use of ASCII text is preferred.)
3 ≤ 4 and 5 ≤ 5
5 ≥ 4 and 5 ≥ 5
is a subgroup of
H ≤ G means H is a subgroup of G. Z ≤ Z
A3  ≤ S3
is reducible to
A ≤ B means the problem A can be reduced to the problem B. Subscripts can be added to the ≤ to indicate what kind of reduction. If
\exists f \in F \mbox{ . } \forall x \in \mathbb{N} \mbox{ . } x \in A \Leftrightarrow f(x) \in B

then

A \leq_{F} B
\prec \!\,
Karp reduction
is Karp reducible to;
is polynomial-time many-one reducible to
L1 ≺ L2 means that the problem L1 is Karp reducible to L2.[1] If L1 ≺ L2 and L2 ∈ P, then L1 ∈ P.
\propto \!\,
is proportional to;
varies as
everywhere
yx means that y = kx for some constant k. if y = 2x, then yx.
Karp reduction[2]
is Karp reducible to;
is polynomial-time many-one reducible to
A ∝ B means the problem A can be polynomially reduced to the problem B. If L1 ∝ L2 and L2 ∈ P, then L1 ∈ P.
+
+ \!\,
plus;
add
4 + 6 means the sum of 4 and 6. 2 + 7 = 9
the disjoint union of ... and ...
A1 + A2 means the disjoint union of sets A1 and A2. A1 = {3, 4, 5, 6} ∧ A2 = {7, 8, 9, 10} ⇒
A1 + A2 = {(3,1), (4,1), (5,1), (6,1), (7,2), (8,2), (9,2), (10,2)}
- \!\,
minus;
take;
subtract
9 − 4 means the subtraction of 4 from 9. 8 − 3 = 5
negative;
minus;
the opposite of
−3 means the negative of the number 3. −(−5) = 5
minus;
without
A − B means the set that contains all the elements of A that are not in B.

(∖ can also be used for set-theoretic complement as described below.)
{1,2,4} − {1,3,4}  =  {2}
\pm \!\,
plus or minus
6 ± 3 means both 6 + 3 and 6 − 3. The equation x = 5 ± √4, has two solutions, x = 7 and x = 3.
plus or minus
10 ± 2 or equivalently 10 ± 20% means the range from 10 − 2 to 10 + 2. If a = 100 ± 1 mm, then a ≥ 99 mm and a ≤ 101 mm.
\mp \!\,
minus-plus
minus or plus
6 ± (3 5) means both 6 + (3 − 5) and 6 − (3 + 5). cos(x ± y) = cos(x) cos(y) sin(x) sin(y).
\times \!\,
times;
multiplied by
3 × 4 means the multiplication of 3 by 4.

(The symbol * is generally used in programming languages, where ease of typing and use of ASCII text is preferred.)
7 × 8 = 56
the Cartesian product of ... and ...;
the direct product of ... and ...
X×Y means the set of all ordered pairs with the first element of each pair selected from X and the second element selected from Y. {1,2} × {3,4} = {(1,3),(1,4),(2,3),(2,4)}
cross
u × v means the cross product of vectors u and v (1,2,5) × (3,4,−1) =
(−22, 16, − 2)
group of units
the group of units of
R× consists of the set of units of the ring R, along with the operation of multiplication.

This may also be written R* as described below, or U(R).
\begin{align} (\mathbb{Z} / 5\mathbb{Z})^\times & = \{ [1], [2], [3], [4] \} \\ & \cong C_4 \\ \end{align}
* \!\,
times;
multiplied by
a * b means the product of a and b.

(Multiplication can also be denoted with × or ⋅, or even simple juxtaposition. * is generally used where ease of typing and use of ASCII text is preferred, such as programming languages.)
4 * 3 means the product of 4 and 3, or 12.
convolution;
convolved with
f * g means the convolution of f and g. (f * g)(t) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} f(\tau) g(t - \tau)\, d\tau.
conjugate
complex numbers
z* means the complex conjugate of z.

(\bar{z} can also be used for the conjugate of z, as described below.)
(3+4i)^\ast = 3-4i.
group of units
the group of units of
R* consists of the set of units of the ring R, along with the operation of multiplication.

This may also be written R× as described above, or U(R).
\begin{align} (\mathbb{Z} / 5\mathbb{Z})^\ast & = \{ [1], [2], [3], [4] \} \\ & \cong C_4 \\ \end{align}
the (set of) hyperreals
*R means the set of hyperreal numbers. Other sets can be used in place of R. *N is the hypernatural numbers.
Hodge dual;
Hodge star
*v means the Hodge dual of a vector v. If v is a k-vector within an n-dimensional oriented inner product space, then *v is an (nk)-vector. If {ei} are the standard basis vectors of \mathbb{R}^5, *(e_1\wedge e_2\wedge e_3)= e_4\wedge e_5
·
\cdot \!\,
times;
multiplied by
3 · 4 means the multiplication of 3 by 4. 7 · 8 = 56
dot
u · v means the dot product of vectors u and v (1,2,5) · (3,4,−1) = 6
\otimes \!\,
tensor product of
V \otimes U means the tensor product of V and U.[3] V \otimes_R U means the tensor product of modules V and U over the ring R. {1, 2, 3, 4}  {1, 1, 2} =
{{1, 2, 3, 4}, {1, 2, 3, 4}, {2, 4, 6, 8}}
÷

\div \!\,

/ \!\,
divided by;
over
6 ÷ 3 or 6 ⁄ 3 means the division of 6 by 3. 2 ÷ 4 = 0.5

12 ⁄ 4 = 3
mod
G / H means the quotient of group G modulo its subgroup H. {0, a, 2a, b, b+a, b+2a} / {0, b} = {{0, b}, {a, b+a}, {2a, b+2a}}
quotient set
mod
A/~ means the set of all ~ equivalence classes in A. If we define ~ by x ~ y ⇔ x − y ∈ , then
/~ = {x + n : n ∈  : x ∈ (0,1]}
\surd \!\,

\sqrt{\ } \!\,
the (principal) square root of
real numbers
\sqrt{x} means the nonnegative number whose square is x. \sqrt{4}=2
the (complex) square root of
complex numbers
if z=r\,\exp(i\phi) is represented in polar coordinates with -\pi < \phi \le \pi, then \sqrt{z} = \sqrt{r} \exp(i \phi/2). \sqrt{-1}=i
\bar{x} \!\,

overbar;
… bar
\bar{x} (often read as “x bar”) is the mean (average value of xi). x = \{1,2,3,4,5\}; \bar{x} = 3.
conjugate
complex numbers
\overline{z} means the complex conjugate of z.

(z* can also be used for the conjugate of z, as described above.)
\overline{3+4i} = 3-4i.
algebraic closure of
field theory
\overline{F} is the algebraic closure of the field F. The field of algebraic numbers is sometimes denoted as \overline{\mathbb{Q}} because it is the algebraic closure of the rational numbers {\mathbb{Q}}.
topological closure
(topological) closure of
\overline{S} is the topological closure of the set S.

This may also be denoted as cl(S) or Cl(S).
In the space of the real numbers, \overline{\mathbb{Q}} = \mathbb{R} (the rational numbers are dense in the real numbers).
|…|
| \ldots | \!\,
absolute value of; modulus of
|x| means the distance along the real line (or across the complex plane) between x and zero. |3| = 3

|–5| = |5| = 5

i | = 1

| 3 + 4i | = 5
Euclidean norm or Euclidean length or magnitude
Euclidean norm of
|x| means the (Euclidean) length of vector x. For x = (3,-4)
|\textbf{x}| = \sqrt{3^2 + (-4)^2} = 5
determinant of
|A| means the determinant of the matrix A \begin{vmatrix}
 1&2 \\
 2&9 \\
\end{vmatrix} = 5


cardinality of;
size of;
order of
|X| means the cardinality of the set X.

(# may be used instead as described below.)
|{3, 5, 7, 9}| = 4.
||…||
\| \ldots \| \!\,
norm of;
length of
|| x || means the norm of the element x of a normed vector space.[4] || x  + y || ≤  || x ||  +  || y ||
nearest integer to
||x|| means the nearest integer to x.

(This may also be written [x], ⌊x⌉, nint(x) or Round(x).)
||1|| = 1, ||1.6|| = 2, ||−2.4|| = −2, ||3.49|| = 3


\mid \!\,

 \nmid \!\,
divides
a|b means a divides b.
ab means a does not divide b.

(This symbol can be difficult to type, and its negation is rare, so a regular but slightly shorter vertical bar | character can be used.)
Since 15 = 3×5, it is true that 3|15 and 5|15.
given
P(A|B) means the probability of the event a occurring given that b occurs. if X is a uniformly random day of the year P(X is May 25 | X is in May) = 1/31
restriction of … to …;
restricted to
f|A means the function f restricted to the set A, that is, it is the function with domain A ∩ dom(f) that agrees with f. The function f : R → R defined by f(x) = x2 is not injective, but f|R+ is injective.
such that
such that;
so that
everywhere
| means “such that”, see ":" (described below). S = {(x,y) | 0 < y < f(x)}
The set of (x,y) such that y is greater than 0 and less than f(x).
||
\| \!\,
is parallel to
x || y means x is parallel to y. If l || m and m ⊥ n then l ⊥ n.
is incomparable to
x || y means x is incomparable to y. {1,2} || {2,3} under set containment.
exact divisibility
exactly divides
pa || n means pa exactly divides n (i.e. pa divides n but pa+1 does not). 23 || 360.
\# \!\,
cardinality of;
size of;
order of
#X means the cardinality of the set X.

(|…| may be used instead as described above.)
#{4, 6, 8} = 3
connected sum of;
knot sum of;
knot composition of
A#B is the connected sum of the manifolds A and B. If A and B are knots, then this denotes the knot sum, which has a slightly stronger condition. A#Sm is homeomorphic to A, for any manifold A, and the sphere Sm.
\aleph \!\,
aleph
α represents an infinite cardinality (specifically, the α-th one, where α is an ordinal). |ℕ| = ℵ0, which is called aleph-null.
\beth \!\,
beth
α represents an infinite cardinality (similar to ℵ, but ℶ does not necessarily index all of the numbers indexed by ℵ. ). \beth_1 = |P(\mathbb{N})| = 2^{\aleph_0}.

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