Mathematical and scientific symbols

Common pronunciations (in British English - Gimson,1981) of mathematical and scientific symbols are given in the list below. (all the pages in this section need a unicode font installed - e.g. Arial Unicode MS, Doulos SIL Unicode, Lucida Sans Unicode - see: The International Phonetic Alphabet in Unicode).

Symbols
+ x / = > < plus minus plus or minus multiplied by over; divided by divided equals approximately, similar equivalent to; identical not equal to greater than less than greater than or equal to less than or equal to not greater than not less than much greater than much less than perpendicular to parallel to not equivalent to, not identical to not similar to squared /'pls/ /'mans/ /'pls : 'mans/ /'mltplad ba/ /'v/ /d'vadd/ /d'vadd/ /':kwlz/ /'prksmtl/ /'sml t/ /k'wvlnt t/ /a'dentkl t/ /'nt 'ikwl t/ /'gret n/ /'les n/ /'gret n r 'ikwl t/ /'les n r' ikwl t/ /'nt 'gret n/ /'nt 'les n/ /'m 'gret n/ /'m 'les n/ /ppn'dkjl t/ /'prlel t/ /'nt k'wvlnt t/ /'nt a'dentkl t/ /'nt 'sml t/ /'skwed/


4 n

cubed to the fourth; to the power four to the n; to the nth; to the power n root; square root cube root fourth root factorial percent infinity varies as; proportional to dot double dot is to, ratio of f; function f dash; derivative f double-dash; second derivative f four; fourth derivative partial derivative, delta integral sum with respect to log log to the base 2 of x therefore because gives, leads to, approaches per belongs to; a member of; an element of does not belong to; is not a member of; is not an element of contained in; a proper subset of

/'kju:bd/ /t 'f/ /te 'p f/ /t en; t d en; t pr en/ /ru:t/ /skwe ru:t/ /kju:b ru:t/ /f rut/ /fk'trl/ /p'sent/ /n'fnt/ /'vrz/ /pr'pnl/ /dt/ /dbl dt/ /re/ /ef/ /'fkn/ /d/ /d'rvtv/ /'dbl d/ /'seknd d'rvtv/ /f d'rvtv/ /pal d'rvtv/ /delt/ /'ntgrl/ /sm/ /w 'rspekt/ /lg/ /lg t bes tu: v eks/ /'f/ /b'kz/ /gvz/ /li:dz t/ /prz/ /p:/ /b'lz/ /'memb/ /'elmnt/ /nt b'l/ /nt 'memb/ /nt n 'elmnt/ /kn'tend n/ /'prp 'sbset/

! % : f(x) fx f'(x) f''x f'''(x) f w.r.t. log logx /

(4)

f triple-dash; f treble-dash; third derivative /'trpl d/ / trebl d/ /:d d'rvtv/

 cos x sin x tan x cosec x sinh x cosh x tanh x |x| K 0K, 273.15 C mm cm cc, cm m km mg g kg AC DC

contained in; subset intersection union for all cos x; cosine x sine x tangent x cosec x shine x cosh x than x mod x; modulus x degrees Centigrade degrees Fahrenheit degrees Kelvin absolute zero millimetre centimetre cubic centimetre, centimetre cubed metre kilometre milligram gram kilogram A.C. D.C.

/'sbset/ /'ntsekn/ /'junn/ /f r:l/ /kz/ /san/ /tan/ /'ksek/ /'an/ /'k/ /n/ /md/ /'mdjls/ /d'gri:z 'sentgred/ /d'gri:z 'frnhat/ /d'gri:z 'kelvn/ /abslu:t zi:r/ /'mlmit/ /'sentmit/ /'kjubk 'sentmit/ /'sentmit 'kju:bd/ /'mit/ /k'lmt/ /'mlgrm/ /grm/ /'klgrm/ /e si:/ /di: si:/

^
Examples

x+1 x -1 x1 xy

x plus one x minus one x plus or minus one x y; x times y; x multiplied by y

(x y)(x + x minus y, x plus y y) x/y xy x=5 xy xy xy x>y x<y xy xy 0<x<1 0x1 x x x4 xn x-n x over y; x divided by y; x divided by y x equals 5; x is equal to 5 x is approximately equal to y x is equivalent to y; x is identical with y x is not equal to y x is greater than y x is less than y x is greater than or equal to y x is less than or equal to y zero is less than x is less than 1; x is greater than zero and less than 1 zero is less than or equal to x is less than or equal to 1; x is greater than or equal to zero and less than or equal to 1 x squared x cubed x to the fourth; x to the power four x to the n; x to the nth; x to the power n x to the minus n; x to the power of minus n root x; square root x; the square root of x the cube root of x the fourth root of x the nth root of x (x + y) (x/y) n! x% x plus y all squared x over y all squared n factorial; factorial n x percent infinity

xy x 1/y f(x) fx f'(x) f''x f'''(x) f(4) v v v dv dv d dv d

x varies as y; x is (directly) proportional to y x varies as one over y; x is indirectly proportional to y x dot x double dot f of x; the function of x f dash x; the (first) derivative of with respect to x f double-dash x; the second derivative of f with respect to x f triple-dash x; f treble-dash x; the third derivative of f with respect to x f four x; the fourth derivative of f with respect to x the partial derivative of v delta v by delta theta, the partial derivative of v with respect to delta two v by delta theta squared; the second partial derivative of v with respect to the derivative of v d v by d theta, the derivative of v with respect to theta d 2 v by d theta squared, the second derivative of v with respect to theta, integral integral from zero to infinity

sum the sum from i equals 1 to n

w.r.t. logey x 0 lim

x0

with respect to log to the base e of y; log y to the base e; natural log (of) y therefore because gives, approaches delta x approaches zero the limit as delta x approaches zero, the limit as delta x tends to zero the limit as delta x approaches zero, the limit as delta x tends to zero metres per second

Lt
x0

m/sec

xA x A A B AB AB AB cos x sin x tan x cosec x sinh x cosh x tanh x |x| 18 70

x belongs to A; x is a member of A; x is an element of A x does not belong to A; x is not a member of A; x is not an element of A A is contained in B; A is a proper subset of B A is contained in B; A is a subset of B A intersection B A union B cos x; cosine x sine x tangent x, tan x cosec x shine x cosh x than x mod x; modulus x eighteen degrees Centigrade seventy degrees Fahrenheit