Wikipedia:Mathematical symbols

This page is a quick reference for the "standard" mathematical symbols in HTML that should work on most browsers, and is intended mainly for people editing mathematical articles on Wikipedia.

Text effects

Underline text:

underline	overline
<u>underline</u>	{{overline|overline}}

Underline should not be used for emphasis, per MOS:BADEMPHASIS.

Strikeout text:

strikeout

<s>strikeout</s>

Strikethrough is not generally used in prose, per MOS:NOSTRIKE.

Font:

italics	bold
''italics''	'''bold'''

→ Use a serif font for HTML math equation:

Φ (A)

{{math|Φ (A)}}

Superscripts/subscripts:

x2	x3	x2 1
x<sup>2</sup>	x<sub>3</sub>	x{{su|p=2|b=1}};

Special characters

Most commonly used non-keyboard characters can be input directly, by:

• Copy-and-paste from the below
• Use the "Insert" pulldown menu immediately below the article text (when editing any Wikipedia page in a desktop web browser).
• Use the "Special characters" menu immediately above the article text (when editing any Wikipedia page in a desktop web browser).

← ↓ → ↑ ↔ ↵ ⇐ ⇓ ⇒ ⇑ ⇔

ƒ ∂ ∫ ∑ Π ∞ ∇ ℘ ℑ ℜ

¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀

∈ ∉ ∋ ∅ ⊆ ⊇ ⊃ ⊂ ⊄ ∪ ∩ ℵ

≠ ≤ ≥ < > ≡ ≢ ∼ ≅ ≈ ∝

° ± × ÷ ⊥ ⊕ ⊗

⌈ ⌉ ⌊ ⌋ « »

⟨ ⟩ or {{angbr}}

† ‡ ¦ ∠ ∴ ◊ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦

For more:

• MOS:FRAC for how to input fractions in various circumstances
• MOS:RADICAL for how to square and other roots in various circumstances
• Per MOS:ELLIPSIS, "..." (three ASCII periods) is used instead of "…" (single character)
• Arrow (symbol) § Arrows in Unicode
• Mathematical operators and symbols in Unicode

Though Unicode characters are generally preferred, sometimes HTML entities are needed to avoid problems with wiki syntax or confusion with other characters:

<	>	−	•	′	″	⋅	·	–	—	&lt;
&gt;	&minus;	&bull;	&prime;	&Prime;	&sdot;	&middot;	&ndash;	&mdash;

For more:

• Unicode character name index - can be used to find the Unicode number of a character.
• W3C list of MathML characters indexed by code or name
• List of XML and HTML character entity references - includes all named entities

Spacing

Typically whitespace should be a regular space ( ) or none at all.

To avoid line-wrapping in the middle of a formula, use {{math}}. If necessary, a non-breaking space ( ) can be inserted with "&nbsp;".

In rare circumstances, such as where one character overlaps another due to one being in italics, a thin space can be added with {{thin space}}.

See also

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics)
• Help:Displaying a formula - TeX-derived syntax as used by <math>...</math> on Wikipedia
• Weierstrass p
• List of mathematical symbols (glossary, HTML syntax, and TeX syntax)
• MathML