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

Operators
SymbolCommand SymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\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
Relations
SymbolCommand SymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\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

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.

SymbolCommand SymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\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
Greek Letters
Lowercase Letters
SymbolCommandSymbolCommand SymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\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

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Capital Letters
SymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\Gamma \Delta \Theta \Lambda
\Xi \Pi \Sigma \Upsilon
\Phi \Psi \Omega

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Arrows
SymbolCommand SymbolCommand
\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
Dots
SymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\ldots 2 \vdots \cdots 2 \ddots

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

Accents
SymbolCommand SymbolCommand SymbolCommand
\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:

SymbolCommand SymbolCommand
\vec{\jmath} \tilde{\imath}

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

SymbolCommand SymbolCommand
\widehat{3+x} \widetilde{abc}
Others
SymbolCommand SymbolCommand SymbolCommand
\infty \triangle \angle
\aleph \hbar \imath
\jmath \ell \wp
\Re \Im \mho
\prime \emptyset \nabla
\surd \partial \top
\bot \vdash \dashv
\forall \exists \neg
\flat \natural \sharp
\backslash \Box \Diamond
\clubsuit \diamondsuit \heartsuit
\spadesuit \Join \blacksquare
\S \P \copyright
\pounds
Command Symbols
Some symbols are used in commands so they need to be treated in a special way

SymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\$ \& \% \#
\_ \{ \} \backslash
European Language Symbols
SymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommand
{\oe} {\ae} {\aa} {\o}
{\OE} {\AE} {\AA} {\O}
{\l} {\ss} !`

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{\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:

SymbolCommand SymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\{ \} \|
\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:

SymbolCommandSymbolCommand SymbolCommand
\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 environments like \begin{equation}...\end{equation}, \begin{align}...\end{align}. Read
more in the commands section of the guide about how symbols which take arguments above and below the
symbols, such as a summation symbol, behave in the two modes.

In each of the following, the two images show the symbol in display mode, then in inline mode.

SymbolCommandSymbolCommandSymbolCommand
\sum \int \oint

\prod \coprod \bigcap

\bigcup \bigsqcup \bigvee
\bigwedge \bigodot \bigotimes
\bigoplus \biguplus

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

See Also
Next: Commands
Previous: Layout
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