LaTeX symbols have either names (denoted by backslash) or special characters. They are organized into seven classes based on their role in a mathematical expression. This is not a comprehensive list. Refer to the external references at the end of this article for more information.
Class 0 (Ord) symbols: Simple / ordinary ("noun")[]
Latin letters and Arabic numerals[]
Letters are rendered in italic font; numbers are upright / roman. \imath
and \jmath
make "dotless" i and j, which are useful in conjunction with hats and accents.
LaTeX markup... | ...results in: |
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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\imath \quad \jmath \quad \hat{\jmath}
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Greek letters[]
Lower case Greek letters are rendered in italic font; upper case Greek letters are rendered in upright/Roman.
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Other alphabetic characters[]
Other simple symbols[]
The following characters don't have any spacing associated with them. That is, they are simple symbols, in class 0.
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There is also a command \& which is not supported by Wikia's LaTeX parser.
Hats, bars, and accents[]
Symbols that go above, below, or in the corners of other symbols.
Note 1: dotless i and j (symbols \imath
and \jmath
) can be used to leave room for whatever hat you want them to wear.
Note 2: \sideset
takes two required parameters, left side and right side, and must be followed by a sum class math operator that normally takes subscripts and superscripts below and above the symbol.
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The following commands are not supported by the Wikia's LaTeX parser:
- \dddot \widetilde \underleftarrow \underrightarrow \underleftrightarrow
Fonts[]
Bold face: \boldsymbol
and \mathbf
make bold face symbols, and \pmb
makes very bold face symbols. However, \mathbf
cannot be applied to Greek symbols, for instance. The AMS "short guide" (see references) contains a cryptic comment, "generally speaking, it is ill-advised to apply \boldsymbol to more than one symbol at a time." Best not to discover why!
LaTeX markup... | ...results in: |
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A_\infty + \pi A_0
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\mathbf{A}_\mathbf{\infty} \mathbf{+} \mathbf{\pi} \mathbf{A}_\mathbf{0}
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\mathbf{A}_{\boldsymbol{\infty} } \boldsymbol{+}
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2\alpha x^2yz+5
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\mathbf{2\alpha x^2yz+5}
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The \pmb command is not supported by the Wikia's LaTeX parser.
Other fonts are...
LaTeX markup... | ...results in: | ...is used for: |
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\mathbb{A B C . . . M}
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Blackboard bold (no lowercase) is used to represent standard sets of numbers, e.g. complex numbers, quaternions, natural numbers, octonians, rationals, reals, sedenions, integers. | |
\mathbb{N . . . X Y Z}
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Blackboard bold (no lowercase) is used to represent standard sets of numbers, e.g. complex numbers, quaternions, natural numbers, octonians, rationals, reals, sedenions, integers. | |
\mathcal{A B C . . . M}
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Calligraphic letters (no lowercase) | |
\mathcal{N . . . X Y Z}
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Calligraphic letters (no lowercase) | |
\mathfrak{A B C ... M}
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Fraktur letters | |
\mathfrak{N ... X Y Z}
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Fraktur letters | |
\mathfrak{a b c ... m}
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Fraktur letters | |
\mathfrak{n ... x y z}
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Fraktur letters | |
\mathrm{A B C ... M}
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Roman letters | |
\mathrm{N ... X Y Z}
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Roman letters | |
\mathrm{a b c ... m}
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Roman letters | |
\mathrm{n ... x y z}
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Roman letters |
Spaces[]
- Main article: Spaces
Simple symbols (class 0) are rendered without any space between them. Operators (class 1) are rendered with spaces. Spacing symbols change the amount of spacing, either by adding more space or taking spaces away. Space is measured in math units, or mu. 18mu equals 1em.
NOTE: commands \thinspace, \medspace, \thickspace, \negthinspace, \negmedspace, \negthickspace, \mspace, and \: are not impemented here at wikia.org!
LaTeX markup... | ...results in: | ...is used for: |
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a b c d
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Simple symbols (class 0) have no spaces around them | |
\sin b \cos d
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Operators (class 1) have thin spaces around them | |
a \, b \mspace{3mu} c \thinspace d
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thin 3mu space | |
a \: b \mspace{4mu} c \medspace d
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medium 4mu space | |
a \; b \mspace{5mu} c \thickspace d
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thick 5mu space | |
a \ b \ c \ d
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thicker 6mu space provided by backslash followed by blank | |
a \quad b \mspace{18mu} c \quad d
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18mu or 1em space | |
a \qquad b \mspace{36mu} c \qquad d
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36mu or 2em space | |
a \! b \mspace{-3mu} c \negthinspace d
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negative thin -3mu space. See \int for a suggested use. | |
a \negmedspace b \mspace{-4mu} c \negmedspace d
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negative medium -4mu space | |
a \negthickspace b \mspace{-5mu} c \negthickspace d
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negative thick -5mu space |
Spaces of exactly the size of some rendered text can be obtained using the \phantom
, command, and its cousins, \hphantom
and \vphantom
. They are not implemented here at wikia.org!
LaTeX markup... | ...results in: | ...is used for: |
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a \phantom{\int XXX} b
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space as wide and high as integral and three X’s | |
a \hphantom{\int XXX} b
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space as wide and high as integral and three X’s; height 0 | |
a \hphantom{\int XXX} b
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space of width 0, as high as integral and three X’s |
Class 1 (Op) symbols: prefix operator (extensible)[]
Accumulation operators: sum, integral, union, etc.[]
- Main article: Sum-class symbol
These prefix operators accumulate the things they're prefixed to. "Extensible" means they have variable size to accommodate their operands, and their limits can appear below and above the operator.
The \smallint command is not supported by the Wikia's LaTeX parser.
Named operators: sin, cos, etc.[]
If your favorite operator, say, "foo", isn't listed, then you won't be able to use \foo(x)
in your LaTeX equation. But don't fret. You can get the same result with \operatorname{foo}(x).
If your made-up operator needs displayed limits, as in \lim
or \max
, then use \operatorname*{foo}
, as in the example in the following table.
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The command \operatorname* is not supported by the wikia's LaTeX parser.
Class 2 (Bin) symbols: binary operator ("conjunction")[]
The binary operator symbols are...
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Class 3 (Rel) symbols: relation / comparison ("verb")[]
<, =, >, and variants[]
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Arrows[]
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Other relation symbols[]
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Class 4 (open; left) and class 5 (close; right) symbols (extensible)[]
Paired left and right symbols[]
The following commands are not supported by the Wikia's LaTeX parser:
- \lvert \rvert \lgroup \rgroup \lmoustache \rmoustache
Nonpairing symbols (extensible)[]
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The following commands are not supported by the Wikia's LaTeX parser:
- \arrowvert \Arrowvert \bracevert
Vertical arrows (extensible)[]
Class 6 (Pun) symbols: postfix / punctuation[]
The punctuation symbols are
The following commands are not supported by the Wikia's LaTeX parser:
- \dotsc \dotsi \dotsm \dotso