This page is a quick reference for the "standard" mathematical symbols in HTML that should work on most browsers, and is intended mainly for people editing mathematical articles on Wikipedia.
Text effects
Underline text:
underline | overline |
<u>underline</u> | {{overline|overline}} |
Underline should not be used for emphasis, per MOS:BADEMPHASIS.
Strikeout text:
|
<s>strikeout</s> |
Strikethrough is not generally used in prose, per MOS:NOSTRIKE.
Font:
italics | bold |
''italics'' | '''bold''' |
→ Use a serif font for HTML math equation:
Φ (A) |
{{math|Φ (A)}} |
Superscripts/subscripts:
x2 | x3 | x2 1 |
x<sup>2</sup> | x<sub>3</sub> | x{{su|p=2|b=1}}; |
Special characters
Most commonly used non-keyboard characters can be input directly, by:
- Copy-and-paste from the below
- Use the "Insert" pulldown menu immediately below the article text (when editing any Wikipedia page in a desktop web browser).
- Use the "Special characters" menu immediately above the article text (when editing any Wikipedia page in a desktop web browser).
← ↓ → ↑ ↔ ↵ ⇐ ⇓ ⇒ ⇑ ⇔
ƒ ∂ ∫ ∑ Π ∞ ∇ ℘ ℑ ℜ
¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀
∈ ∉ ∋ ∅ ⊆ ⊇ ⊃ ⊂ ⊄ ∪ ∩ ℵ
≠ ≤ ≥ < > ≡ ≢ ∼ ≅ ≈ ∝
° ± × ÷ ⊥ ⊕ ⊗
⌈ ⌉ ⌊ ⌋ « »
⟨ ⟩ or {{angbr}}
† ‡ ¦ ∠ ∴ ◊ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
For more:
- MOS:FRAC for how to input fractions in various circumstances
- MOS:RADICAL for how to square and other roots in various circumstances
- Per MOS:ELLIPSIS, "..." (three ASCII periods) is used instead of "…" (single character)
- Arrow (symbol) § Arrows in Unicode
- Mathematical operators and symbols in Unicode
Though Unicode characters are generally preferred, sometimes HTML entities are needed to avoid problems with wiki syntax or confusion with other characters:
< | > | − | × | • | ′ | ″ | ⋅ | · | – | — |
< | > | − | × | • | ′ | ″ | ⋅ | · | – | — |
For more:
- Unicode character name index - can be used to find the Unicode number of a character.
- W3C list of MathML characters indexed by code or name
- List of XML and HTML character entity references - includes all named entities
Spacing
Typically whitespace should be a regular space ( ) or none at all.
To avoid line-wrapping in the middle of a formula, use {{math}}. If necessary, a non-breaking space ( ) can be inserted with " ".
In rare circumstances, such as where one character overlaps another due to one being in italics, a thin space can be added with {{thin space}}.
See also
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics)
- Help:Displaying a formula - TeX-derived syntax as used by
<math>...</math>
on Wikipedia - Weierstrass p
- List of mathematical symbols (glossary, HTML syntax, and TeX syntax)
- MathML