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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

Keywords