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Glossary of maths symbols
Glossary of maths symbols
Maths contains many symbols, known as notations, which represent different functions and operations. If you have questions about a symbol you’ve seen on the Learning Lab, check out the glossary below.
Foundational notations
These symbols appear across different areas of maths and science content.
|
Symbol |
Explanation |
|---|---|
| \(+\) | plus |
| \(-\) | minus |
| \(\times\) | multiplied by, times |
| \(\div\) | divided by |
| \(\pm\) | plus-or-minus |
| \(=\) | equals |
| \(\gt\) | greater than |
| \(\lt\) | less than |
| \(\ge\) | greater than or equal to |
| \(\le\) | less than or equal to |
| \(\neq\) | does not equal |
| \(\approx\) | is approximately |
| \(\propto\) | is proportional to |
| \(\therefore\) | therefore |
| \(\sqrt{}\) | root |
| \(\%\) | percent |
| \(\infty\) | infinity |
| \(\theta\) | theta, represents an angle |
| \(\Delta\) | delta, represents change |
| \(\vert{x}\vert\) | absolute value of x |
Specialised notations
Each area of maths below has notations that are specific to the area.
Trigonometry, Indices, logs, surds, and Functions and graphs |
|
|---|---|
|
Symbol |
Explanation |
| \(\angle\) | angle |
| \(A\) | area |
| \(V\) | volume |
| \(l\) | length |
| \(r\) | radius |
| \(C\) | circumference |
| \(\pi\) | pi, a constant approximately equal to 3.14 |
| \(e\) | Euler’s number, a constant approximately equal to 2.718 |
| \(\log\) | logarithm |
| \(\ln\) | natural log |
| \(\in\) | is an element of |
| \(\Bbb{R}\) | the set of real numbers |
Differentiation, Integration, and Laplace transforms |
|
|---|---|
|
Symbol |
Explanation |
| \(f'(x)\) | derivative of the function of x |
| \(\int\) | integral |
| \(\partial\) | partial derivative |
| \(L\) | Laplace transform |
| \(\lambda\) | eigenvalue |
Statistics |
|
|---|---|
|
Symbol |
Explanation |
| \(\sum\) | sum |
| \(\bar{x}\) | x-bar, the mean of a set of data |
| \(\mu\) | mu, the mean of the population |
| \(s\) | standard deviation of a sample |
| \(\sigma\) | standard deviation of the population |
| \(s^2\) | variance of a sample |
| \(\sigma^2\) | variance of the population |
| \(Pr\) | probability |
| \(C\) | combination |
| \(!\) | factorial |
| \(\cap\) | intersection |
| \(\cup\) | union |
| \(z\) | z-score |
| \(n\) | size of a sample |
| \(H_0\) | null hypothesis |
| \(\alpha\) | significance level |
| \(t\) | t-test |
| \(\hat{p}\) | p-hat, a sample proportion |
| \(p\) | population proportion |
| \(q\) | probability of failure |
| \(\lambda\) | mean or expected occurrences per unit time |
Vectors |
|
|---|---|
|
Symbol |
Explanation |
| \(\vec{}\) | vector |
| \(\vert{\vec{a}}\vert\) | length or magnitude of a vector |
| \(\hat{a}\) | unit vector a |
| \(\cdot\) | dot product |
| \(\nabla\) | directional derivative |