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

Contents
1 Common Symbols
1.1 Operators
2 Finding Other Symbols
3 Operators
4 Relations
5 Greek Letters
6 Arrows
7 Dots
8 Accents
9 Others
10 Command Symbols
11 European Language Symbols
12 Bracketing Symbols
13 Multi-Size Symbols
14 See Also

Common Symbols
Operators

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
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\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}

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
Lowercase Letters
Symbol Command Symbol Command Symbol Command Symbol Command
\alpha \beta \gamma \delta
\epsilon \varepsilon \zeta \eta
\theta \vartheta \iota \kappa
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\lambda \mu \nu \xi

\pi \varpi \rho \varrho
\sigma \varsigma \tau \upsilon
\phi \varphi \chi \psi
\omega

Capital Letters
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}

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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
Symbol Command Symbol Command Symbol Command
\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 \overarc{ABC} \underarc{XYZ}

\bigstar \in \cup

\square
\smiley
\mathbb{R} (represents all real numbers)
\checkmark
\cancer

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}

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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\{\begin{array}{l}x+y=3\\2x+y=5\end{array}\right.

Gives

See that there's a dot after \right. You must put that dot or the code won't work.

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

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\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 \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.

Symbol Command Symbol Command Symbol Command

\sum \int \oint

\prod \coprod \bigcap

\bigcup \bigsqcup \bigvee

\bigwedge \bigodot \bigotimes

\bigoplus \biguplus

See Also
Next: Commands
Previous: Layout

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