Mathematical Symbols

Name
Symbol Read as Explanation
Category
equality
is equal to;
= equals
means and represent the same thing or value.
everywhere
inequality means that and do not represent the same thing or value.
is not equal to;

does not equal (The forms !=, /= or <> are generally used in programming languages where ease of typing
everywhere and use of ASCII text is preferred.)
strict inequality
means is less than .
is less than,
< is greater than
means is greater than .
order theory
proper subgroup
> is a proper subgroup of means is a proper subgroup of .
group theory
(very) strict inequality
x y means x is much less than y.
is much less than,
is much greater than
x y means x is much greater than y.
order theory
asymptotic comparison f g means the growth of f is asymptotically bounded by g.
is of smaller order than,
is of greater order than (This is I. M. Vinogradov's notation. Another notation is the Big O notation, which looks like f =
analytic number theory O(g).)
x y means x is less than or equal to y.
inequality
is less than or equal to,
x y means x is greater than or equal to y.
is greater than or equal to
order theory
(The forms <= and >= are generally used in programming languages where ease of typing and
 use of ASCII text is preferred.)
subgroup
is a subgroup of H G means H is a subgroup of G.
group theory
reduction
A B means the problem A can be reduced to the problem B. Subscripts can be added to the
is reducible to
to indicate what kind of reduction.
computational complexity theory
congruence relation
7k 28 (mod 2) is only true if k is an even integer. Assume that the problem requires k to be
...is less than ... is greater than...
non-negative; the domain is defined as 0 k .
modular arithmetic
x y means that each component of vector x is less than or equal to each corresponding
component of vector y.
vector inequality
... is less than or equal... is
greater than or equal...
x y means that each component of vector x is greater than or equal to each corresponding
component of vector y.
order theory
It is important to note that x y remains true if every element is equal. However, if the
operator is changed, x y is true if and only if x y is also true.
Karp reduction
is Karp reducible to;
is polynomial-time many-one L1 L2 means that the problem L1 is Karp reducible to L2.[1]
reducible to
computational complexity theory
proportionality
is proportional to;
y x means that y = kx for some constant k.
varies as
everywhere
Karp reduction[2]
is Karp reducible to;
is polynomial-time many-one A B means the problem A can be polynomially reduced to the problem B.
reducible to
computational complexity theory
addition 4 + 6 means the sum of 4 and 6.
+ plus;
 add
arithmetic
disjoint union
the disjoint union of ... and ... A1 + A2 means the disjoint union of sets A1 and A2.
set theory
subtraction
minus;
take; 9 4 means the subtraction of 4 from 9.
subtract
arithmetic
negative sign
negative;

minus; 3 means the negative of the number 3.

the opposite of
arithmetic
set-theoretic complement
A B means the set that contains all the elements of A that are not in B.
minus;
without
( can also be used for set-theoretic complement as described below.)
set theory
plus-minus 6 3 means both 6 + 3 and 6 3.
plus or minus
arithmetic
plus-minus 10 2 or equivalently 10 20% means the range from 10 2 to 10 + 2.
plus or minus
measurement
minus-plus 6 (3 5) means both 6 + (3 5) and 6 (3 + 5).
minus or plus
arithmetic
multiplication 3 4 means the multiplication of 3 by 4.
times;
multiplied by (The symbol * is generally used in programming languages, where ease of typing and use
arithmetic of ASCII text is preferred.)
Cartesian product XY means the set of all ordered pairs with the first element of each pair selected from X and
the Cartesian product of ... the second element selected from Y.
 and ...;
the direct product of ... and ...
set theory
cross product
cross u v means the cross product of vectors u and v
linear algebra
group of units R consists of the set of units of the ring R, along with the operation of multiplication.
the group of units of
ring theory This may also be written R* as described below, or U(R).
multiplication a * b means the product of a and b.
times;
multiplied by (Multiplication can also be denoted with or , or even simple juxtaposition. * is generally
arithmetic used where ease of typing and use of ASCII text is preferred, such as programming languages.)
convolution
convolution;
f * g means the convolution of f and g.
convolved with
functional analysis
complex conjugate z* means the complex conjugate of z.
conjugate
* complex numbers ( can also be used for the conjugate of z, as described below.)
group of units R* consists of the set of units of the ring R, along with the operation of multiplication.
the group of units of
ring theory This may also be written R as described above, or U(R).
hyperreal numbers *R means the set of hyperreal numbers. Other sets can be used in place of R.
the (set of) hyperreals
non-standard analysis
Hodge dual
Hodge dual; *v means the Hodge dual of a vector v. If v is a k-vector within an n-dimensionaloriented inner
Hodge star product space, then *v is an (nk)-vector.
linear algebra
multiplication 3 4 means the multiplication of 3 by 4.
times;
multiplied by
arithmetic
 dot product
dot u v means the dot product of vectors u and v
linear algebra
placeholder
A means a placeholder for an argument of a function. Indicates the functional nature of an
(silent)
expression without assigning a specific symbol for an argument.
functional analysis
tensor product, tensor product of
modules means the tensor product of V and U.[3] means the tensor product of

tensor product of modules V and U over the ring R.

linear algebra
KulkarniNomizu product Derived from the tensor product of two symmetric type (0,2) tensors; it has the algebraic
KulkarniNomizu product symmetries of the Riemann tensor. has
tensor algebra components .
division (Obelus)
divided by;
6 3 or 6 3 means the division of 6 by 3.
over
arithmetic
quotient group
mod G / H means the quotient of group G modulo its subgroup H.
group theory
quotient set
mod A/~ means the set of all ~ equivalence classes in A.
set theory
square root means the nonnegative number whose square is .
the (principal) square root of
real numbers
complex square root if is represented in polar coordinates with ,
the (complex) square root of
complex numbers then .
mean (often read as x bar) is the mean (average value of ).
x overbar;
bar
statistics
 complex conjugate means the complex conjugate of z.
conjugate
complex numbers (z* can also be used for the conjugate of z, as described above.)
finite sequence, tuple
finite sequence, tuple means the finite sequence/tuple .
model theory
algebraic closure
algebraic closure of is the algebraic closure of the field F.
field theory
topological closure is the topological closure of the set S.
(topological) closure of
topology This may also be denoted as cl(S) or Cl(S).
unit vector
hat (pronounced "a hat") is the normalized version of vector , having length 1.
geometry
absolute value;
modulus
|x| means the distance along the real line (or across the complex plane) between xand zero.
absolute value of; modulus of
numbers
Euclidean norm or Euclidean
length or magnitude
|x| means the (Euclidean) length of vector x.
Euclidean norm of
geometry
|| determinant
determinant of |A| means the determinant of the matrix A
matrix theory
cardinality
cardinality of; |X| means the cardinality of the set X.
size of;
order of (# may be used instead as described below.)
set theory
norm || x || means the norm of the element x of a normed vector space.[4]
|||| norm of;
 length of
linear algebra
nearest integer function ||x|| means the nearest integer to x.
nearest integer to
numbers (This may also be written [x], x, nint(x) or Round(x).)
divisor, divides a|b means a divides b.
divides ab means a does not divide b.
number theory
(This symbol can be difficult to type, and its negation is rare, so a regular but slightly shorter
vertical bar | character can be used.)
conditional probability P(A|B) means the probability of the event a occurring given that b occurs.
given
probability
restriction f|A means the function f restricted to the set A, that is, it is the function withdomain A dom(f)
restriction of to ; that agrees with f.
restricted to
set theory
such that
such that;
| means such that, see ":" (described below).
so that
everywhere
parallel x || y means x is parallel to y.
is parallel to
geometry
incomparability x || y means x is incomparable to y.
|| is incomparable to
order theory
exact divisibility pa || n means pa exactly divides n (i.e. pa divides n but pa+1 does not).
exactly divides
number theory
cardinality #X means the cardinality of the set X.
# cardinality of;
size of; (|| may be used instead as described above.)
order of
 set theory
connected sum
connected sum of;
A#B is the connected sum of the manifolds A and B. If A and B are knots, then this denotes the
knot sum of;
knot sum, which has a slightly stronger condition.
knot composition of
topology, knot theory
primorial
primorial n# is product of all prime numbers less than or equal to n.
number theory
aleph number
aleph represents an infinite cardinality (specifically, the -th one, where is an ordinal).
set theory
beth number
represents an infinite cardinality (similar to , but does not necessarily index all of the
beth
numbers indexed by . ).
set theory
cardinality of the continuum
cardinality of the continuum;
? c; The cardinality of is denoted by or by the symbol (a lowercase Frakturletter C).
cardinality of the real numbers
set theory
such that
: such that;
: means such that, and is used in proofs and the set-builder notation (described below).
so that
everywhere
field extension
K : F means the field K extends the field F.
extends;
over
This may also be written as K F.
field theory
inner product of matrices A : B means the Frobenius inner product of the matrices A and B.
inner product of
linear algebra The general inner product is denoted by u, v, u | v or (u | v), as described below. For spatial
vectors, the dot product notation, xy is common. See also Bra-ket notation.
index of a subgroup The index of a subgroup H in a group G is the "relative size" of H in G: equivalently, the
index of subgroup number of "copies" (cosets) of H that fill up G
 group theory
The statement !A is true if and only if A is false.
logical negation
A slash placed through another operator is the same as "!" placed in front.
not
propositional logic
! (The symbol ! is primarily from computer science. It is avoided in mathematical texts, where
the notation A is preferred.)
factorial
factorial n! means the product 1 2 ... n.
combinatorics

combination;
binomial coefficent means (in the case of n = positive integer) the number of combinations of kelements drawn
n choose k from a set of n elements.
combinatorics
(This may also be written as C(n, k), nCk or nCk.)

multiset coefficient
u multichoose k
combinatorics (when u is positive integer)
means reverse or rising binomial coefficient.
probability distribution
~ has distribution X ~ D, means the random variable X has the probability distribution D.
statistics
row equivalence
is row equivalent to A~B means that B can be generated by using a series of elementary row operations on A
matrix theory
same order of magnitude m ~ n means the quantities m and n have the same order of magnitude, or general size.
roughly similar;
poorly approximates (Note that ~ is used for an approximation that is poor, otherwise use .)
approximation theory
asymptotically equivalent
is asymptotically equivalent to
f ~ g means .
 asymptotic analysis
equivalence relation
are in the same equivalence class a ~ b means (and equivalently ).
everywhere
approximately equal x y means x is approximately equal to y.
is approximately equal to
everywhere This may also be written , , ~, (Libra Symbol), or .

isomorphism G H means that group G is isomorphic (structurally identical) to group H.

is isomorphic to
group theory ( can also be used for isomorphic, as described below.)
wreath product A H means the wreath product of the group A by the group H.
wreath product of by
group theory This may also be written A wr H.
normal subgroup
is a normal subgroup of N G means that N is a normal subgroup of group G.
group theory

ideal
is an ideal of I R means that I is an ideal of ring R.
antijoin
ring theory
R S means the antijoin of the relations R and S, the tuples in R for which there is not a tuple
the antijoin of
in S that is equal on their common attribute names.
relational algebra
N H is the semidirect product of N (a normal subgroup) and H (a subgroup), with respect to
semidirect product
. Also, if G = N H, then G is said to split over N.
the semidirect product of
group theory
( may also be written the other way round, as , or as .)
semijoin
the semijoin of
R S is the semijoin of the relations R and S, the set of all tuples in R for which there is a tuple
in S that is equal on their common attribute names.
relational algebra
natural join
R S is the natural join of the relations R and S, the set of all combinations of tuples
the natural join of
in R and S that are equal on their common attribute names.
relational algebra
therefore Sometimes used in proofs before logical consequences.
 therefore;
so;
hence
everywhere
because
because;
Sometimes used in proofs before reasoning.
since
everywhere
end of proof Used to mark the end of a proof.
QED;
tombstone; (May also be written Q.E.D.)
Halmos symbol
everywhere

D'Alembertian It is the generalisation of the Laplace operator in the sense that it is the differential operator
non-Euclidean Laplacian which is invariant under the isometry group of the underlying space and it reduces to the
vector calculus Laplace operator if restricted to time independent functions.

material implication A B means if A is true then B is also true; if A is false then nothing is said aboutB.
implies;
if then ( may mean the same as , or it may have the meaning for functions given below.)
propositional logic, Heyting
algebra ( may mean the same as ,[5] or it may have the meaning for superset given below.)

material equivalence
if and only if;
A B means A is true if B is true and A is false if B is false.
iff
propositional logic
 The statement A is true if and only if A is false.
logical negation
A slash placed through another operator is the same as "" placed in front.
not
propositional logic
(The symbol ~ has many other uses, so or the slash notation is preferred. Computer scientists
will often use ! but this is avoided in mathematical texts.)
logical conjunction or meetin
a lattice
The statement A B is true if A and B are both true; else it is false.
and;
min;
For functions A(x) and B(x), A(x) B(x) is used to mean min(A(x), B(x)).
meet
propositional logic, lattice theory
wedge product

wedge product; u v means the wedge product of any multivectors u and v. In three dimensionalEuclidean
exterior product space the wedge product and the cross product of two vectors are each other's Hodge dual.
exterior algebra
a ^ b means a raised to the power of b
exponentiation
(raised) to the power of
(a ^ b is more commonly written ab. The symbol ^ is generally used in programming languages
everywhere
where ease of typing and use of plain ASCII text is preferred.)
logical disjunction or joinin
a lattice
The statement A B is true if A or B (or both) are true; if both are false, the statement is false.
or;

max;
For functions A(x) and B(x), A(x) B(x) is used to mean max(A(x), B(x)).
join
propositional logic, lattice theory
exclusive or
xor
The statement A B is true when either A or B, but not both, are true. A Bmeans the same.
propositional logic, Boolean
algebra
direct sum
direct sum of
The direct sum is a special way of combining several objects into one general object.

abstract algebra (The bun symbol , or the coproduct symbol , is used; is only for logic.)
universal quantification x: P(x) means P(x) is true for all x.
 for all;
for any;
for each
predicate logic
existential quantification
there exists;
there is; x: P(x) means there is at least one x such that P(x) is true.
there are
predicate logic
uniqueness quantification ! x: P(x) means there is exactly one x such that P(x) is true.
! there exists exactly one
predicate logic
=:

:=

x := y, y =: x or x y means x is defined to be another name for y, under certain assumptions

definition taken in context.
is defined as;
: is equal by definition to (Some writers use to mean congruence).
everywhere
P : Q means P is defined to be logically equivalent to Q.

congruence ABC DEF means triangle ABC is congruent to (has the same measurements as) triangle
 is congruent to
DEF.
geometry
isomorphic G H means that group G is isomorphic (structurally identical) to group H.
is isomorphic to
abstract algebra ( can also be used for isomorphic, as described above.)
congruence relation
... is congruent to ... modulo ... a b (mod n) means a b is divisible by n
modular arithmetic
set brackets
{,} the set of {a,b,c} means the set consisting of a, b, and c.[6]
set theory
{:}
set builder notation
{|} the set of such that {x : P(x)} means the set of all x for which P(x) is true.[6] {x | P(x)} is the same as {x :P(x)}.
set theory

{;}

empty set
the empty set means the set with no elements.[6] { } means the same.
set theory
{}
set membership
is an element of;
a S means a is an element of the set S;[6] a S means a is not an element ofS.[6]
is not an element of
everywhere, set theory
such that symbol
often abbreviated as "s.t."; : and | are also used to abbreviate "such that". The use of goes
such that
back to early mathematical logic and its usage in this sense is declining.
mathematical logic

set membership
contains as an element S means the same thing as S, where S is a set and is an element of S.
set theory
 set membership
does not contain as an element S means the same thing as S, where S is a set and is not an element of S.
set theory
(subset) A B means every element of A is also an element of B.[7]
subset
is a subset of (proper subset) A B means A B but A B.
set theory
(Some writers use the symbol as if it were the same as .)
A B means every element of B is also an element of A.
superset
is a superset of A B means A B but A B.
set theory
(Some writers use the symbol as if it were the same as .)
set-theoretic union
the union of or ;
A B means the set of those elements which are either in A, or in B, or in both.[7]
union
set theory
set-theoretic intersection
intersected with;
A B means the set that contains all those elements that A and B have in common.[7]
intersect
set theory
symmetric difference A B means the set of elements in exactly one of A or B.
symmetric difference
set theory (Not to be confused with delta, , described below.)
set-theoretic complement
A B means the set that contains all those elements of A that are not in B.[7]
minus;

without
( can also be used for set-theoretic complement as described above.)
set theory
function arrow
from to f: X Y means the function f maps the set X into the set Y.
set theory, type theory
function arrow
maps to f: a b means the function f maps the element a to the element b.
set theory
 function composition
composed with fg is the function, such that (fg)(x) = f(g(x)).[8]
set theory
For two matrices (or vectors) of the same dimensions the Hadamard product
Hadamard product
is a matrix of the same dimensions with elements given
o entrywise product
linear algebra by . This is often used in matrix based programming such
as MATLAB where the operation is done by A.*B
N means either { 0, 1, 2, 3, ...} or { 1, 2, 3, ...}.

natural numbers The choice depends on the area of mathematics being studied; e.g. number theorists prefer the
N; latter; analysts, set theorists and computer scientists prefer the former. To avoid confusion,
the (set of) natural numbers always check an author's definition of N.
N numbers
Set theorists often use the notation (for least infinite ordinal) to denote the set of natural
numbers (including zero), along with the standard ordering relation .
integers means {..., 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...}.
Z;
the (set of) integers + or > means {1, 2, 3, ...} . * or means {0, 1, 2, 3, ...} .
Z numbers
integers mod n n means {[0], [1], [2], ...[n1]} with addition and multiplication modulo n.
n
Zn;
the (set of) integers modulon Note that any letter may be used instead of n, such as p. To avoid confusion with p-adic
numbers numbers, use /p or /(p) instead.
p
p-adic integers
Zn the (set of) p-adic integers
numbers Note that any letter may be used instead of p, such as n or l.

Zp
projective space means a space with a point at infinity.
P;
the projective space;
 the projective line;
the projective plane
topology
P probability (X) means the probability of the event X occurring.
the probability of
probability theory This may also be written as P(X), Pr(X), P[X] or Pr[X].
rational numbers
Q;
the (set of) rational numbers; means {p/q : p , q }.
the rationals
Q numbers
real numbers
R;
the (set of) real numbers; means the set of real numbers.
the reals
R numbers
complex numbers
C;
means {a + b i : a,b }.
the (set of) complex numbers
C numbers
quaternions or Hamiltonian
quaternions
H; means {a + b i + c j + d k : a,b,c,d }.
the (set of) quaternions
H numbers
Big O notation The Big O notation describes the limiting behavior of a function, when the argument tends
big-oh of towards a particular value or infinity.
O Computational complexity
theory
infinity
is an element of the extended number line that is greater than all real numbers; it often occurs
infinity
in limits.
numbers
floor x means the floor of x, i.e. the largest integer less than or equal to x.
floor;
 greatest integer;
entier (This may also be written [x], floor(x) or int(x).)
numbers
ceiling x means the ceiling of x, i.e. the smallest integer greater than or equal to x.
ceiling
numbers (This may also be written ceil(x) or ceiling(x).)
nearest integer function x means the nearest integer to x.
nearest integer to
numbers (This may also be written [x], ||x||, nint(x) or Round(x).)
degree of a field extension [K : F] means the degree of the extension K : F.
[:] the degree of
field theory
equivalence class [a] means the equivalence class of a, i.e. {x : x ~ a}, where ~ is an equivalence relation.
[] the equivalence class of
abstract algebra [a]R means the same, but with R as the equivalence relation.
floor
[,] floor;
[x] means the floor of x, i.e. the largest integer less than or equal to x.
greatest integer;
(This may also be written x, floor(x) or int(x). Not to be confused with the nearest integer
entier
[,,] numbers
function, as described below.)
[x] means the nearest integer to x.
nearest integer function
nearest integer to
(This may also be written x, ||x||, nint(x) or Round(x). Not to be confused with the floor
numbers
function, as described above.)
Iverson bracket
1 if true, 0 otherwise [S] maps a true statement S to 1 and a false statement S to 0.
propositional logic
f[X] means { f(x) : x X }, the image of the function f under the set X dom(f).
image
image of under
(This may also be written as f(X) if there is no risk of confusing the image of funder X with the
everywhere
function application f of X. Another notation is Im f, the image of funder its domain.)
closed interval .
closed interval
order theory
 commutator [g, h] = g1h1gh (or ghg1h1), if g, h G (a group).
the commutator of
group theory, ring theory [a, b] = ab ba, if a, b R (a ring or commutative algebra).
triple scalar product
the triple scalar product of [a, b, c] = a b c, the scalar product of a b with c.
vector calculus
function application
of f(x) means the value of the function f at the element x.
set theory
f(X) means { f(x) : x X }, the image of the function f under the set X dom(f).
image
image of under
(This may also be written as f[X] if there is a risk of confusing the image of f underX with the
everywhere
function application f of X. Another notation is Im f, the image of f under its domain.)
precedence grouping
() parentheses Perform the operations inside the parentheses first.
everywhere
tuple An ordered list (or sequence, or horizontal vector, or row vector) of values.
(,) tuple; n-tuple;
ordered pair/triple/etc; (Note that the notation (a,b) is ambiguous: it could be an ordered pair or an open interval. Set
row vector; sequence theorists and computer scientists often use angle brackets instead of parentheses.)
everywhere
highest common factor
highest common factor; (a, b) means the highest common factor of a and b.
greatest common divisor; hcf;
gcd (This may also be written hcf(a, b) or gcd(a, b).)
number theory

(,) open interval

.

open interval (Note that the notation (a,b) is ambiguous: it could be an ordered pair or an open interval. The
order theory notation ]a,b[ can be used instead.)
],[
left-open interval
(,] half-open interval;
.
 left-open interval
order theory
],]
[,) right-open interval
half-open interval;
right-open interval .
[,[ order theory
u,v means the inner product of u and v, where u and v are members of an inner product space.

Note that the notation u, v may be ambiguous: it could mean the inner product or the linear
, inner product span.
inner product of
linear algebra There are many variants of the notation, such as u | v and (u | v), which are described below.
For spatial vectors, the dot product notation, xy is common. For matrices, the colon
notation A : B may be used. As and can be hard to type, the more keyboard friendly
forms < and > are sometimes seen. These are avoided in mathematical texts.
average
average of let S be a subset of N for example, represents the average of all the element in S.
statistics
S means the span of S V. That is, it is the intersection of all subspaces of Vwhich contain S.
u1, u2, is shorthand for {u1, u2, }.
linear span
(linear) span of;
Note that the notation u, v may be ambiguous: it could mean the inner product or the linear
linear hull of
span.
linear algebra
The span of S may also be written as Sp(S).

subgroup generated by a set

means the smallest subgroup of G (where S G, a group) containing every element of S.
the subgroup generated by
group theory is shorthand for .
tuple An ordered list (or sequence, or horizontal vector, or row vector) of values.
tuple; n-tuple;
 ordered pair/triple/etc;
(The notation (a,b) is often used as well.)
row vector; sequence
everywhere
u | v means the inner product of u and v, where u and v are members of an inner product
space.[9] (u | v) means the same.
| inner product
inner product of Another variant of the notation is u, v which is described above. For spatial vectors, the dot
linear algebra product notation, xy is common. For matrices, the colon notationA : B may be used.
(|) As and can be hard to type, the more keyboard friendly forms < and > are sometimes
seen. These are avoided in mathematical texts.
ket vector
the ket ;
| the vector
| means the vector with label , which is in a Hilbert space.
Dirac notation
bra vector
the bra ; | means the dual of the vector |, a linear functional which maps a ket | onto the inner
| the dual of product |.
Dirac notation
summation
sum over from to of
arithmetic means .
product
product over from to of
arithmetic means .

Cartesian product
the Cartesian product of; means the set of all (n+1)-tuples
the direct product of
set theory (y0, , yn).

coproduct A general construction which subsumes the disjoint union of sets and of topological spaces,
coproduct over from to the free product of groups, and the direct sum of modules and vector spaces. The coproduct of a

of family of objects is essentially the "least specific" object to which each object in the family
category theory admits a morphism.
 delta x means a (non-infinitesimal) change in x.
delta;
change in (If the change becomes infinitesimal, and even d are used instead. Not to be confused with the
calculus symmetric difference, written , above.)
Laplacian
Laplace operator The Laplace operator is a second order differential operator in n-dimensionalEuclidean space
vector calculus
Dirac delta function
Dirac delta of
hyperfunction
Kronecker delta
Kronecker delta of
hyperfunction

Functional derivative
Functional derivative of
Differential operators

partial derivative
partial;
f/xi means the partial derivative of f with respect to xi, where f is a function on (x1, , xn).
d
calculus
boundary

boundary of M means the boundary of M

topology
degree of a polynomial f means the degree of the polynomial f.
degree of
algebra (This may also be written deg f.)
gradient f (x1, , xn) is the vector of partial derivatives (f / x1, , f / xn).
del;
 nabla;
gradient of
vector calculus
divergence
del dot;
divergence of
vector calculus

curl
curl of
vector calculus

derivative
f (x) means the derivative of the function f at the point x, i.e., the slope of thetangent to f at x.
prime;

derivative of
(The single-quote character ' is sometimes used instead, especially in ASCII text.)
calculus
derivative
dot;

time derivative of means the derivative of x with respect to time. That is .

calculus
indefinite
integral orantiderivative
indefinite integral of f(x) dx means a function whose derivative is f.
the antiderivative of
calculus
definite integral ab f(x) dx means the signed area between the x-axis and the graph of
integral from to of with the function fbetween x = a and x = b.
respect to
calculus
line integral C f ds means the integral of f along the curve C, , wherer is a
line/ path/ curve/ integral of parametrization of C.
along
calculus (If the curve is closed, the symbol may be used instead, as described below.)
 Similar to the integral, but used to denote a single integration over a closed curve or loop. It is
sometimes used in physics texts involving equations regardingGauss's Law, and while these
formulas involve a closed surface integral, the representations describe only the first integration
of the volume over the enclosing surface. Instances where the latter requires simultaneous
Contour integral; double integration, the symbol would be more appropriate. A third related symbol is the
closed line integral closed volume integral, denoted by the symbol .

contour integral of
calculus The contour integral can also frequently be found with a subscript capital letter C, C, denoting
that a closed loop integral is, in fact, around a contour C, or sometimes dually appropriately, a
circle C. In representations of Gauss's Law, a subscript capital S, S, is used to denote that the
integration is over a closed surface.

projection
Projection of restricts to the attribute set.
relational algebra
Pi
pi; Used in various formulas involving circles; is equivalent to the amount of area a circle would
3.1415926; take up in a square of equal width with an area of 4 square units, roughly 3.14/4. It is also the
227 ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.
mathematical constant
selection The selection selects all those tuples in for which holds between the and the
Selection of attribute. The selection selects all those tuples in for which holds between the
relational algebra attribute and the value .
cover
<: is covered by x < y means that x is covered by y.
order theory
subtype
< is a subtype of T1 <: T2 means that T1 is a subtype of T2.
type theory
conjugate transpose A means the transpose of the complex conjugate of A.[10]
conjugate transpose;
adjoint; This may also be written A*T, AT*, A*, AT or AT.
Hermitian
 adjoint/conjugate/transpose
matrix operations
transpose AT means A, but with its rows swapped for columns.
T transpose
matrix operations This may also be written A', At or Atr.
top element
the top element means the largest element of a lattice.
lattice theory

top type
the top type; top means the top or universal type; every type in the type system of interest is a subtype of top.
type theory
perpendicular
is perpendicular to x y means x is perpendicular to y; or more generally x is orthogonal to y.
geometry
orthogonal complement
orthogonal/ perpendicular
W means the orthogonal complement of W (where W is a subspace of the inner product
complement of;
space V), the set of all vectors in V orthogonal to every vector in W.
perp
linear algebra
coprime
is coprime to x y means x has no factor greater than 1 in common with y.
number theory
independent
is independent of A B means A is an event whose probability is independent of event B.
probability
bottom element
the bottom element means the smallest element of a lattice.
lattice theory
bottom type
the bottom type; means the bottom type (a.k.a. the zero type or empty type); bottom is the subtype of every
bot type in the type system.
type theory
comparability x y means that x is comparable to y.
 is comparable to
order theory
entailment
A B means the sentence A entails the sentence B, that is in every model in which A is
entails
true, B is also true.
model theory
inference
infers;
is derived from x y means y is derivable from x.
propositional logic,predicate
logic
partition
is a partition of p n means that p is a partition of n.
number theory
vertical ellipsis
Denotes that certain constants and terms are missing out (e.g. for clarity) and that only the
vertical ellipsis
important terms are being listed.
everywhere