A Comprehensive List of LaTeX Mathematical Symbols

LaTeX is a package that simplifies the TeX typesetting. The Buzzle write-up below will provide you with a comprehensive list of LaTeX mathematical symbols.

 

TeX is a markup language that is used to bring about consistency and neatness in documents. This process is called 'typesetting'. It was invented in the late 1970s by Donald Knuth in order to bring orderliness in the digital printing methodology. LaTeX is a sub-package of TeX that further simplifies the TeX typesetting. It is especially useful for documents that contain mathematical symbols and related formulae. Here is a list of LaTeX math symbols. They include the latex degree symbol, does-not-equal sign, greater-than-or-equal-to, less-than-or-equal-to signs, omega symbol, approximately symbol, etc.

List of LaTeX Mathematical Symbols

Binary Symbols

Symbol Command
± \pm
× \times
∗ \ast
∘ \circ
∩ \cap
\ \setminus
△ \bigtriangleup
⊲ \lhd
⊴ \unlhd
⊕ \oplus
⊗ \otimes
⊙ \odot
† \dagger
⊻ \XOR
⊼ \NAND
⋓ \double union
Symbol Command
⋒ \double intersection
∓ \mp
÷ \div
☆ \star
• \bullet
∪ \cup
⋄ ∖diamond
▽ \bigtriangledown
⊳ \rhd
⊵ \unrhd
⊖ \ominus
⊘ \oslash
◯ \bigcirc
‡ \ddagger
· \cdot
& \AND

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Accents

Symbol Command
à \grave{x}
â \hat{x}
ȧ \tilde{x}
Symbol Command
á \acute{a}
ǎ \check{x}
ă \dot{x}

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Arrows

Symbol Command
← \leftarrow
→ \rightarrow
↔ \leftrightarrow
↼ \leftharpoonup
⇌ \rightleftharpoons
⇐ = \Longleftarrow
= ⇒ \Longrightarrow
⇐⇒ \Longleftrightarrow
⇁ \rightharpoondown
↑ \uparrow
⇑ \Uparrow
↕ \updownarrow
Symbol Command
⇐ \Leftarrow
⇒ \Rightarrow
⇔ \Leftrightarrow
⇀ \rightharpoonup
←− \longleftarrow
−→ \longrightarrow
←→ \longleftrightarrow
⇁ \rightharpoondown
↽ \leftharpoondown
↓ \downarrow
⇓ \Downarrow
⇕ \Updownarrow

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Relation Symbols

Symbol Command
≤ \leq
≡ \equiv
| \mid
⊂ \subset
≈ \approx
⊆ \subseteq
∝ \propto
Symbol Command
≥ \geq
|= \models
∼ \sim
⊃ \supset
∈ \in
⊇ \supseteq
≪ \lll

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Greek Symbols

Symbol Command
α \alpha
χ \chi
η \eta
κ \kappa
µ \mu
ω \omega
π \pi
ρ \rho
θ \theta
Symbol Command
β \beta
δ \delta
γ \gamma
λ \lambda
ν \nu
φ \phi
ψ \psi
σ \sigma
ζ \zeta

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**Please Note: Some of the symbols in the above tables may not be compatible with certain browsers and may not be visible.

Advantages

Typesetting of mathematical formulae is simple.
References, footnotes, and citations can be easily generated.
Tables, lists, equations, and figures can be conveniently generated as well.
The source of the documents can be read with any text editor.
The entire layout of the document is consistent.
No manual adjustments are necessary, as they all are automatically taken care of.
You can concentrate on the structure of the document, and even easily copy it to another document.

Disadvantages

Since it involves programming, you are required to know the necessary commands.
Sometimes, you may not get the look you want for your document.
The final version may or may not be visible to the user during the editing process.

The above list is just a trailer; the important and useful ones have been selected and stated here for your convenience. The actual list could go on and on, for there are innumerable mathematical LaTeX symbols. They are extremely useful, though you have to be very cautious to write the correct syntax. Essentially, using LaTeX means programming to process documents. Make sure you select the correct packages, learn the correct code and syntax, and conduct effective document processing.