Mathematical Symbols (Cambridge International IGCSE Mathematics)

Mathematical symbols

What mathematical symbols do I need to know?

• Starting with the basic four operations

  • $+$ Addition, plus, sum, total
  • $-$ Subtraction, minus, difference, take away
  • $\times$ Multiplication, product, times
  • $\div$ Division, quotient, divide, share

• Equals signs

  • $=$ Equal to

    • e.g. $3x+7=19$

  • $\neq$ Not equal to

    • e.g. $2-5\neq5-2$

  • $\approx$ Approximately equal to

    • e.g. $π\approx3.14$

  • $\equiv$ Identical (equivalent) to

    • e.g. $12x+6\equiv3(4x+2)$

• Inequality signs

  • $>$ Greater than

    • e.g. $5>-2$

  • $<$ Less than

    • e.g. $\frac{1}{2}<\frac{2}{3}$

  • greater-than or slanted equal to Greater than or equal to

  • less-than or slanted equal to Less than or equal to

• Other helpful symbols

  • $()$ Brackets

    • used to group symbols
    • e.g. $(2x+4)--3(x+7)$

  • $3^{x}$ Powers (also called indices, orders, or exponents)

    • repeated multiplication
    • e.g. $3^{4}=3\times3\times3\times3=81$

  • $\sqrt{}$ Positive square root

    • inverse of squaring
    • e.g. $\sqrt{81}=9$ because $9^{2}=81$

  • $\sqrt[3]{ }$ Cube root

    • inverse of cubing
    • e.g. $\sqrt[3]{64} = 4$ because $4^{3}=64$

  • $\pm$ Plus Minus

    • used to allow for both a positive and negative answer (two distinct answers)
    • a\pmb is the same as $a+b$ and $a-b$
    • e.g. $x=3\pm2.5$ is the same as $x=3+2.5=5.5$ and $x=3-2.5=0.5$

  • $π$ Pi

    • the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter