LaTeX:Symbols
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This article will provide a short list of commonly used LaTeX symbols.
Contents
[hide]Finding Other Symbols
Here are some external resources for finding less commonly used symbols:
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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, (technically an AJAX library simulating it.)) maintains a list of supported commands.
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The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List.
Operators
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
\pm | \mp | \times | |||
\div | \cdot | \ast | |||
\star | \dagger | \ddagger | |||
\amalg | \cap | \cup | |||
\uplus | \sqcap | \sqcup | |||
\vee | \wedge | \oplus | |||
\ominus | \otimes | \circ | |||
\bullet | \diamond | \lhd | |||
\rhd | \unlhd | \unrhd | |||
\oslash | \odot | \bigcirc | |||
\triangleleft | \Diamond | \bigtriangleup | |||
\bigtriangledown | \Box | \triangleright | |||
\setminus | \wr | \sqrt{x} | |||
x^{\circ} | \triangledown | \sqrt[n]{x} | |||
a^x | a^{xyz} | a_x |
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 couple examples, plus many other negations; it works for many of the many others as well.
Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command | Symbol | Command |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
\nmid | \nleq | \ngeq | |||
\nsim | \ncong | \nparallel | |||
\not< | \not> | \not= or \neq | |||
\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 must use the symbols on your keyboard, they are not available in .
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 |
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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
\cdot | \vdots | |||
\dots | \ddots | |||
\cdots | \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
And with system of equations:
\left\{
Gives
See that there's a dot after \right. You must put that dot or the code won't work.
In addition to the \left and \right commands, when doing floor or ceiling functions with fractions, using
\left\lceil\frac{x}{y}\right\rceil
and \left\lfloor\frac{x}{y}\right\rfloor
give both
And, if you type this
\underbrace{a_0+a_1+a_2+\cdots+a_n}_{x}
Gives
Or
\overbrace{a_0+a_1+a_2+\cdots+a_n}^{x}
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 |