Common math symbols and their names
When you're writing an equation in a report, an assignment or a chat message, the hardest part is often remembering what a symbol is called. Here are the common ones, grouped by topic.
Symbols by topic
Operations
| Symbol | Name / meaning |
|---|
| ± | plus or minus |
| × | multiplication |
| ÷ | division |
| · | multiplication (dot) |
| √ | square root |
| ∛ | cube root |
| − | minus (a different character from the hyphen -) |
Relations
| Symbol | Name / meaning |
|---|
| ≠ | not equal to |
| ≈ | approximately equal to |
| ≡ | identical to / congruent |
| ≤ ≥ | less / greater than or equal to |
| ≪ ≫ | much less / much greater than |
| ∝ | proportional to |
Sets
| Symbol | Name / meaning |
|---|
| ∈ ∉ | is / is not an element of |
| ⊂ ⊆ | subset / subset or equal |
| ∪ ∩ | union / intersection |
| ∅ | empty set |
| ℕ ℤ ℚ ℝ ℂ | natural numbers, integers, rationals, reals, complex numbers |
Logic
| Symbol | Name / meaning |
|---|
| ¬ | not |
| ∧ ∨ | and / or |
| ⇒ ⇔ | implies / if and only if |
| ∀ ∃ | for all / there exists |
| ∴ ∵ | therefore / because |
Calculus
| Symbol | Name / meaning |
|---|
| ∞ | infinity |
| ∑ | summation |
| ∏ | product |
| ∫ | integral |
| ∂ | partial derivative |
| ∇ | nabla (gradient) |
| ′ | prime (derivative, minutes) |
Common Greek letters
| Symbol | Name / meaning |
|---|
| π | pi, the circle constant |
| θ | an angle |
| λ | wavelength, eigenvalue |
| μ | mean, micro (10⁻⁶) |
| σ | standard deviation |
| Δ | change in a quantity |
| Ω | ohm (unit of resistance) |
Look-alikes that are different characters
- Minus − and hyphen -: the hyphen on your keyboard is shorter and sits differently. In equations, the minus sign is the correct character.
- Multiplication × and the letter x: the multiplication sign is a separate, symmetrical character.
- μ and µ: the Greek letter mu and the micro sign look the same but are different Unicode characters.
Typing math symbols
The math and science keyboard has more than 400 symbols, including all of the above, in tabs for operators and relations, Greek letters, sets and logic, arrows, sub- and superscripts, and brackets. On a computer, pressing a shortcut repeatedly steps through related symbols: each Ctrl+, gives ≤ → ∠ → ≪ …, and each Ctrl+. gives ≥ → ≫ …. Point at a button to see its name and shortcut.