LaTeX:Symbols

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This article will provide a short list of commonly used LaTeX symbols.

Operators

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\pm$	\pm	$\mp$	\mp	$\times$	\times
$\div$	\div	$\cdot$	\cdot	$\ast$	\ast
$\star$	\star	$\dagger$	\dagger	$\ddagger$	\ddagger
$\amalg$	\amalg	$\cap$	\cap	$\cup$	\cup
$\uplus$	\uplus	$\sqcap$	\sqcap	$\sqcup$	\sqcup
$\vee$	\vee	$\wedge$	\wedge	$\oplus$	\oplus
$\ominus$	\ominus	$\otimes$	\otimes	$\circ$	\circ
$\bullet$	\bullet	$\diamond$	\diamond	$\lhd$	\lhd
$\rhd$	\rhd	$\unlhd$	\unlhd	$\unrhd$	\unrhd
$\oslash$	\oslash	$\odot$	\odot	$\bigcirc$	\bigcirc
$\triangleleft$	\triangleleft	$\Diamond$	\Diamond	$\bigtriangleup$	\bigtriangleup
$\bigtriangledown$	\bigtriangledown	$\Box$	\Box	$\triangleright$	\triangleright
$\setminus$	\setminus	$\wr$	\wr

Relations

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\le$	\le	$\ge$	\ge	$\neq$	\neq
$\sim$	\sim	$\ll$	\ll	$\gg$	\gg
$\doteq$	\doteq	$\simeq$	\simeq	$\subset$	\subset
$\supset$	\supset	$\approx$	\approx	$\asymp$	\asymp
$\subseteq$	\subseteq	$\supseteq$	\supseteq	$\cong$	\cong
$\smile$	\smile	$\sqsubset$	\sqsubset	$\sqsupset$	\sqsupset
$\equiv$	\equiv	$\frown$	\frown	$\sqsubseteq$	\sqsubseteq
$\sqsupseteq$	\sqsupseteq	$\propto$	\propto	$\bowtie$	\bowtie
$\in$	\in	$\ni$	\ni	$\prec$	\prec
$\succ$	\succ	$\vdash$	\vdash	$\dashv$	\dashv
$\preceq$	\preceq	$\succeq$	\succeq	$\models$	\models
$\perp$	\perp	$\parallel$	\parallel	$\\|$	\\|
$\mid$	\mid

Negations of many of these relations can be formed by just putting \not before the symbol, or by slipping an n between the \ and the word. Here are a few examples, plus a few other negations; it works for many of the others as well.

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\nmid$	\nmid	$\nleq$	\nleq	$\ngeq$	\ngeq
$\nsim$	\nsim	$\ncong$	\ncong	$\nparallel$	\nparallel
$\not<$	\not<	$\not>$	\not>	$\not=$	\not=
$\not\le$	\not\le	$\not\ge$	\not\ge	$\not\sim$	\not\sim
$\not \approx$	\not\approx	$\not\cong$	\not\cong	$\not\equiv$	\not\equiv
$\not\parallel$	\not\parallel	$\nless$	\nless	$\ngtr$	\ngtr
$\lneq$	\lneq	$\gneq$	\gneq	$\lnsim$	\lnsim
$\lneqq$	\lneqq	$\gneqq$	\gneqq

Greek Letters

Lowercase Letters
Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\alpha$	\alpha	$\beta$	\beta	$\gamma$	\gamma	$\delta$	\delta
$\epsilon$	\epsilon	$\varepsilon$	\varepsilon	$\zeta$	\zeta	$\eta$	\eta
$\theta$	\theta	$\vartheta$	\vartheta	$\iota$	\iota	$\kappa$	\kappa
$\lambda$	\lambda	$\mu$	\mu	$\nu$	\nu	$\xi$	\xi
$\pi$	\pi	$\varpi$	\varpi	$\rho$	\rho	$\varrho$	\varrho
$\sigma$	\sigma	$\varsigma$	\varsigma	$\tau$	\tau	$\upsilon$	\upsilon
$\phi$	\phi	$\varphi$	\varphi	$\chi$	\chi	$\psi$	\psi
$\omega$	\omega

Capital Letters
Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\Gamma$	\Gamma	$\Delta$	\Delta	$\Theta$	\Theta	$\Lambda$	\Lambda
$\Xi$	\Xi	$\Pi$	\Pi	$\Sigma$	\Sigma	$\Upsilon$	\Upsilon
$\Phi$	\Phi	$\Psi$	\Psi

Arrows

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\gets$	\gets	$\to$	\to
$\leftarrow$	\leftarrow	$\Leftarrow$	\Leftarrow
$\rightarrow$	\rightarrow	$\Rightarrow$	\Rightarrow
$\leftrightarrow$	\leftrightarrow	$\Leftrightarrow$	\Leftrightarrow
$\mapsto$	\mapsto	$\hookleftarrow$	\hookleftarrow
$\leftharpoonup$	\leftharpoonup	$\leftharpoondown$	\leftharpoondown
$\rightleftharpoons$	\rightleftharpoons	$\longleftarrow$	\longleftarrow
$\Longleftarrow$	\Longleftarrow	$\longrightarrow$	\longrightarrow
$\Longrightarrow$	\Longrightarrow	$\longleftrightarrow$	\longleftrightarrow
$\Longleftrightarrow$	\Longleftrightarrow	$\longmapsto$	\longmapsto
$\hookrightarrow$	\hookrightarrow	$\rightharpoonup$	\rightharpoonup
$\rightharpoondown$	\rightharpoondown	$\leadsto$	\leadsto
$\uparrow$	\uparrow	$\Uparrow$	\Uparrow
$\downarrow$	\downarrow	$\Downarrow$	\Downarrow
$\updownarrow$	\updownarrow	$\Updownarrow$	\Updownarrow
$\nearrow$	\nearrow	$\searrow$	\searrow
$\swarrow$	\swarrow	$\nwarrow$	\nwarrow

Dots

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\ldots 2$	\ldots 2	$\vdots$	\vdots	$\cdots 2$	\cdots 2	$\ddots$	\ddots

(The '2's after \ldots and \cdots are only present to make the distinction between the two clear.)

Accents

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\hat{x}$	\hat{x}	$\check{x}$	\check{x}	$\dot{x}$	\dot{x}
$\breve{x}$	\breve{x}	$\acute{x}$	\acute{x}	$\ddot{x}$	\ddot{x}
$\grave{x}$	\grave{x}	$\tilde{x}$	\tilde{x}	$\mathring{x}$	\mathring{x}
\ $\bar{x}$	\bar{x}	$\vec{x}$	\vec{x}

When applying accents to i and j, you can use \imath and \jmath to keep the dots from interfering with the accents:

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\vec{\jmath}$	\vec{\jmath}	$\tilde{\imath}$	\tilde{\imath}

\tilde and \hat have wide versions that allow you to accent an expression:

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\widehat{3+x}$	\widehat{3+x}	$\widetilde{abc}$	\widetilde{abc}

Others

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\infty$	\infty	$\triangle$	\triangle	$\angle$	\angle
$\aleph$	\aleph	$\hbar$	\hbar	$\imath$	\imath
$\jmath$	\jmath	$\ell$	\ell	$\wp$	\wp
$\Re$	\Re	$\Im$	\Im	$\mho$	\mho
$\prime$	\prime	$\emptyset$	\emptyset	$\nabla$	\nabla
$\surd$	\surd	$\partial$	\partial	$\top$	\top
$\bot$	\bot	$\vdash$	\vdash	$\dashv$	\dashv
$\forall$	\forall	$\exists$	\exists	$\neg$	\neg
$\flat$	\flat	$\natural$	\natural	$\sharp$	\sharp
$\backslash$	\backslash	$\Box$	\Box	$\Diamond$	\Diamond
$\clubsuit$	\clubsuit	$\diamondsuit$	\diamondsuit	$\heartsuit$	\heartsuit
$\spadesuit$	\spadesuit	$\Join$	\Join	$\blacksquare$	\blacksquare

Bracketing Symbols

In mathematics, sometimes we need to enclose expressions in brackets or braces or parentheses. Some of these work just as you'd imagine in LaTeX; type ( and ) for parentheses, [ and ] for brackets, and | and | for absolute value. However, other symbols have special commands:

Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command	Symbol	Command
$\{$	\{	$\}$	\}	$\\|$	\\|
$\backslash$	\backslash	$\lfloor$	\lfloor	$\rfloor$	\rfloor
$\lceil$	\lceil	$\rceil$	\rceil	$\langle$	\langle
$\rangle$	\rangle

You might notice that if you use any of these to typeset an expression that is vertically large, like

\displaystyle (1 + \frac{a}{x} )^2

the parentheses don't come out the right size: If we put \left and \right before the relevant parentheses, we get a prettier expression:

\displaystyle \left(1 + \frac{a}{x} \right)^2

gives

$\left(1 + \frac{a}{x} \right)^2$

\left and \right can also be used to resize the following symbols:

Multi-Size Symbols

\boxed{Answer} produces a box around your Answer.

\frac{a}{b} produces a fraction with numerator $a$ and denominator $b$ . $\frac{a}{b}$

^\circ produces the degrees symbol. $a^{\circ}$

\text{Your Text Here} produces text within LaTeX. $\mbox{Your Text Here}$ .

\mbox{Your Text Here} Produces text within LaTeX $\mbox{Your Text Here}$

\sqrt{x} produces the square root of $x$ . $\sqrt{x}$

\sqrt[n]{x} produces the $n$ th root of $x$ . $\sqrt[n]{x}$

a\equiv b \pmod{c} produces $a$ is equivalent to $b$ mod $c$ . $a\equiv b \pmod{c}$ See Modular Arithmetic

\binom{9}{3} produces 9 choose 3.

{n}\choose{r} produces n choose r. ${n}\choose{r}$

x^{y} produces x to the power of y. $x^y$

x_{y} produces x with y in subscript. $x_y$

\rightarrow produces an arrow to the right. $\rightarrow$

\leftarrow produces an arrow to the left. $\leftarrow$

\uparrow produces an arrow pointing upwards. $\uparrow$

\downarrow produces an arrow pointing downwards. $\downarrow$

\updownarrow produces an arrow pointing up and down. $\updownarrow$

\ge produces a greater than or equal to sign. $\ge$

\le produces a less than or equal to sign. $\le$

\not> produces a not greater than sign. $\not>$

\not< produces a not less than sign. $\not<$

\not\ge produces a not greater than or equal to sign. $\not\ge$

\not\le produces a not less than or equal to sign. $\not\le$

\neq produces a not equal to sign. $\neq$

\infty produces an infinity sign. $\infty$

\perp produces a perpendicular sign. $\perp$

\angle produces an angle sign. $\angle$

\triangle produces a triangle. $\triangle$

\ldots produces three dots at the bottom of a line (ellipsis). $\ldots$

\cdots produces three dots in the middle of a line (as in a series sum or product). $\cdots$

\times produces an $\times$ as used in multiplication

\otimes produces a $\otimes$

Also note that you do not have to use braces, "{" and "}", when you only want one character in the operation.

Examples

x^y is the same as x^{y}. $x^y$
x_y is the same as x_{y}. $x_y$
BUT x^10 is not the same as x^{10}. $x^10$ instead of $x^{10}$ .

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