Mathematical Punctuation

Some of the punctuation keys on your keyboard are used in mathematics. In this article, we're going to enumerate these punctuation marks.

Plus sign (+): Found near the top right corner of the keyboard, the plus sign is used to signify addition.

Equal sign (=): The same key can also type the equal sign, used to convey that two quantities or objects are equivalent in value.

Minus sign (-): The hyphen is also used as a minus sign, signifying subtraction.

Tilde (~): This squiggly line is used to show near-equivalence. It is most commonly found in approximations.

Dollar sign ($): The dollar sign is placed before a number to indicate that that number is a monetary amount in dollars.

Percent sign (%): This symbol, when placed after a number, means that the number's actual value is 1/100 of the number stated. For instance, 3% is actually 0.03. It is usually multiplied to another number to change that number's value.

Greater than and less than symbols (> and < respectively):

There are also many mathematical punctuation marks not found on the keyboard. Here are a few of them.

Plus-minus symbol (±): This symbol is used to mean "more or less." It might be a little more or a little less than explicitly stated.

Unequal sign (≠): The unequal sign is used to show that two quantities are not equal to each other.

Double tilde (≈): This is used in a similar fashion to the tilde, conveying approximation.

Permille (‰): The permille is similar to the percent sign, but it conveys that a number's value is 1/1,000 of the number stated, rather than 1/100. Thus, 3‰ is 0.003.

Permyriad (‱): Its function is similar to that of the percent sign and permille. A permyriad after a number means that the number's value is 1/10,000 of the number stated. 3‱ is 0.0003. The permyriad is not supported in the font we are using, Lato, so it appears as it does in the Arial font.

There are many more gr8 mathematical punc2ation marks out there, but un4tunately, the time has come 2 end this article. Thank you 4 reading. (Seriously, though, please don't ever use numbers instead of words!)