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Glossary - Symbols
One or more symbols are used to express mathematical formulae. A partial list of symbols (currently being developed) is as follows:
| Symbols |
Meanings |
| + |
positive, addition |
| - |
negative, subtraction |
| × |
mutliplication |
| ÷ |
division |
| * |
asterisk, multiplcation (computers) |
| / |
slash, forward slash, division (computers) |
| ⁄ |
fractional slash |
| ± |
plus and minus (value can be of either sign) |
| ° |
degree, angle |
| ≡ |
identical to |
| = |
equal sign |
| < |
less than |
| <= |
=< |
less than or equal to |
| > |
greater than |
| >= |
=> |
greater than or equal to |
| ≈ |
approximately equal to |
| % |
per cent (n out of 100 parts) |
| ‰ |
per mille (n out of 1,000 parts) |
| ‱ |
per myriad (n out of 10,000 parts), per diem, basis point |
| ¤ |
Currency (but not a specific currency) |
| # |
octothorpe, number sign, cross-hatch |
| ( |
) |
opening and closing parenthesis (respectively), brackets |
| ƒ |
florin, function |
| π |
pi (the constant ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter) |
| √ |
square root, radical sign |
| ∞ |
infinity |
| … |
horizontal ellipsis |
| ′ |
imperial feet, minutes, [single] prime (not an apostrophe) |
| ″ |
imperial inches, seconds, double prime (not a quotation mark) |
Advanced mathematical operators:
| Symbols |
Meanings |
| ∀ |
for all |
| ∂ |
partial differential |
| ∝ |
proportional to... |
| ∇ |
nabla, backward difference |
| ∏ |
n-ary product, product sign, prod (not the same as the Greek capital letter for "pi" despite its similar appearance) |
| ∑ |
n-ary sumation, sum (not the same as the Greek capital letter for "sigma" despite its similar appearance) |
| − |
minus sign, subtraction |
| ∗ |
asterisk operator |
| ∠ |
angle |
| ∟ |
right angle |
| ⊥ |
up tack, orthogonal to, perpendicular |
| ∧ |
logical "and," wedge |
| ∨ |
logical "or," vee |
| ∫ |
integral |
| ∆ |
increment |
| ∴ |
therefore |
| ∼ |
tilde operator, varies with, similar to (not the same as the "tilde" character despite its similar appearance) |
| ≈ |
almost equal to, asymptotic to |
| ≅ |
approximately equal to |
| ≡ |
identical to |
| ≤ |
less-than or equal to |
| ≥ |
greater-than or equal to |
| ≠ |
not equal to |
| ∩ |
intersection, cap |
| ∪ |
union, cup |
| ⊂ |
subset of |
| ⊃ |
superset of |
| ⊄ |
not a subset of |
| ⊆ |
subset of or equal to |
| ⊇ |
superset of or equal to |
| ∈ |
element of |
| ∉ |
not an element of |
| ∋ |
contains as member, ni (as in Monty Python's The Knights of "Ni") |
| ∃ |
there exists |
| ∅ |
empty set, null set, diameter |
| ⊕ |
circled plus, direct sum |
| ⊗ |
circled times, vector product |
| ¬ |
not |
| ⋅ |
dot operator (not the same as the Georgian comma, a.k.a., "middle dot," despite its similar appearance) |
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