LaTeX:Symbols
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This article will provide a short list of commonly used LaTeX symbols.
Contents
[hide]Common Symbols
Operators
Relations
Finding Other Symbols
Here are some external resources for finding less commonly used symbols:
-
Detexify is an app which allows you to draw the symbol you'd like and shows you the code for it!
-
MathJax (what allows us to use on the web) maintains a list of supported commands.
-
The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List.
Operators
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
\pm | \mp | \times | |||
\div | \cdot | \ast | |||
\star | \dagger | \ddagger | |||
=]-[0p8;97\uplus\sqcap\sqcup\vee\wedge\oplus\ominus\otimes\circ\bullet\diamond\lhd\rhd\unlhd\oslash\odot\bigcirc\triangleleft\Diamond\bigtriangleup\bigtriangledown\Box\triangleright\setminus\wr\sqrt{x}x^{\circ}\triangledown\sqrt[n]{x}a^xa^{xyz}$ | a^{xyz} |
Relations
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
\le | \ge | \neq | |||
\sim | \ll | \gg | |||
\doteq | \simeq | \subset | |||
\supset | \approx | \asymp | |||
\subseteq | \supseteq | \cong | |||
\smile | \sqsubset | \sqsupset | |||
\equiv | \frown | \sqsubseteq | |||
\sqsupseteq | \propto | \bowtie | |||
\in | \ni | \prec | |||
\succ | \vdash | \dashv | |||
\preceq | \succeq | \models | |||
\perp | \parallel | ||||
\mid | \bumpeq |
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 | \nleq | \ngeq | |||
\nsim | \ncong | \nparallel | |||
\not< | \not> | \not= | |||
\not\le | \not\ge | \not\sim | |||
\not\approx | \not\cong | \not\equiv | |||
\not\parallel | \nless | \ngtr | |||
\lneq | \gneq | \lnsim | |||
\lneqq | \gneqq |
To use other relations not listed here, such as =, >, and <, in LaTeX, you may just use the symbols on your keyboard.
Greek Letters
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
\alpha | \beta | \gamma | \delta | ||||
\epsilon | \varepsilon | \zeta | \eta | ||||
\theta | \vartheta | \iota | \kappa | ||||
\lambda | \mu | \nu | \xi | ||||
\pi | \varpi | \rho | \varrho | ||||
\sigma | \varsigma | \tau | \upsilon | ||||
\phi | \varphi | \chi | \psi | ||||
\omega |
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
\Gamma | \Delta | \Theta | \Lambda | ||||
\Xi | \Pi | \Sigma | \Upsilon | ||||
\Phi | \Psi | \Omega |
Headline text
Arrows
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|
\gets | \to | ||
\leftarrow | \Leftarrow | ||
\rightarrow | \Rightarrow | ||
\leftrightarrow | \Leftrightarrow | ||
\mapsto | \hookleftarrow | ||
\leftharpoonup | \leftharpoondown | ||
\rightleftharpoons | \longleftarrow | ||
\Longleftarrow | \longrightarrow | ||
\Longrightarrow | \longleftrightarrow | ||
\Longleftrightarrow | \longmapsto | ||
\hookrightarrow | \rightharpoonup | ||
\rightharpoondown | \leadsto | ||
\uparrow | \Uparrow | ||
\downarrow | \Downarrow | ||
\updownarrow | \Updownarrow | ||
\nearrow | \searrow | ||
\swarrow | \nwarrow |
(For those of you who hate typing long strings of letters, \iff and \implies can be used in place of \Longleftrightarrow and \Longrightarrow respectively.)
Dots
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
\cdot | \vdots | ||||||
\dots | |||||||
\cdots | |||||||
\ddots | |||||||
\iddots |
Accents
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
\hat{x} | \check{x} | \dot{x} | |||
\breve{x} | \acute{x} | \ddot{x} | |||
\grave{x} | \tilde{x} | \mathring{x} | |||
\bar{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} | \tilde{\imath} |
\tilde and \hat have wide versions that allow you to accent an expression:
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|
\widehat{7+x} | \widetilde{abc} |
Others
Command Symbols
Some symbols are used in commands so they need to be treated in a special way.
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
\textdollar or $ | \& | \% | \# | ||||
\_ | \{ | \} | \backslash |
(Warning: Using $ for will result in . This is a bug as far as we know. Depending on the version of this is not always a problem.)
European Language Symbols
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
{\oe} | {\ae} | {\o} | |||||
{\OE} | {\AE} | {\AA} | {\O} | ||||
{\l} | {\ss} | !` | |||||
{\L} | {\SS} |
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 | \lfloor | \rfloor | |||
\lceil | \rceil | \langle | |||
\rangle |
You might notice that if you use any of these to typeset an expression that is vertically large, like
- (\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:
- \left(\frac{a}{x} \right)^2
gives
\left and \right can also be used to resize the following symbols:
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
\uparrow | \downarrow | \updownarrow | |||
\Uparrow | \Downarrow | \Updownarrow |
Multi-Size Symbols
Some symbols render differently in inline math mode and in display mode. Display mode occurs when you use \[...\] or $$...$$, or environments like
In each of the following, the two images show the symbol in display mode, then in inline mode.
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
\sum | \int | \oint | |||
\prod | \coprod | \bigcap | |||
\bigcup | \bigsqcup | \bigvee | |||
\bigwedge | \bigodot | \bigotimes | |||
\bigoplus | \biguplus |