Math Symbols in HTML

This page explains how to place various mathematical characters into HTML documents. A 1999 version of this document is available here and a 2005 version here. The symbols have been grouped into the following categories:

Operation Symbols
Relation Symbols
Arrows and Brackets
Greek Symbols
Miscellaneous Symbols

Update (1 Sep 2009): In this version the Symbol FONT FACE TAG method has been eliminated because they are no longer reliable.
Update (19 Mar 2007): Additional character entities

INTRODUCTION
There are several ways to add these symbols to your pages. I will omit consideration of symbols which appear on the keyboard unless, like &, they have a special HTML meaning. Of course, for any symbol, a .gif image can be created and the image displayed using the <img> tag. I will omit consideration of this strategy as well. In the tables below two codes will be given for displaying a character: the HTML numerical code and a special HTML literal code (where available).

Well, how do you use this stuff? The following samples illustrate the use of each code method. To place a symbol in an HTML page or an email message (readable using a web browser) copy and paste the appropriate code into the file (or message) where you want the symbol.
HTML NUMERIC CODE example: to make a left curly bracket {, type &#123;.
HTML LITERAL CODE example: to make a degree symbol °, type &deg;.

One more thing. To form superscripts or subscripts use the <SUP> or <SUB> tags.

SUPERSCRIPT example: to write 2, type 2<SUP>&alefsym;</SUP>.
SUBSCRIPT example: to write x5, type x<SUB>5</SUB>.

BROWSER TEST: To view symbols with numeric codes above 255 and perhaps some literal code symbols the browser character encoding must be set to unicode (UTF-8). If the following string of symbols cannot be read, the browser setting needs to be changed.
Upwards arrow (Numeric code: ↑, Literal code: ↑), intersection (Numeric code: ∩, Literal code: ∩)

Operation Symbols
NAME SYMBOL NUMERIC
CODE
LITERAL
CODE
For all
&#8704; &forall;
There exist
&#8707; &exist;
Not
¬
&#172; &not;
And (meet)
&#8743; &and;
Or (join)
&#8744; &or;
Intersection
&#8745; &cap;
Union
&#8746; &cup;
Plus or minus
±
&#177; &plusmn;
Times
×
&#215; &times;
Partial derivative
&#8706; &part;
Solid dot
&#8729; None
Middle dot
·
&#183; &middot;
Circle times
&#8855; &otimes;
Circle plus
&#8853; &oplus;
Division
¸
&#247; &divide;
Big product
&#8719; &prod;
Big sum
&#8721; &sum;
Square root
&#8730; &radic;
Integral
&#8747; &int;

Relation Symbols
NAME SYMBOL NUMERIC
CODE
LITERAL
CODE
Contains the element
&#8717; None
Is a member of
&#8712; &isin;
Is not a member of
&#8713; &notin;
Less than
<
&#60; &lt;
Greater than
>
&#62; &gt;
Isomorphism
&#8773; &cong;
Perpendicular
&#8869; &perp;
Vertical bar
|
&#124; None
Less than or equal
&#8804; &le;
Greater than or equal
&#8805; &ge;
Not equal to
&#8800; &ne;
Equivalent to
&#8801; &equiv;
Approximately
&#8776; &asymp;
Similar to
&#8764; &sim;
Empty set
&#8709; &empty;
Contains properly
&#8835; &sup;
Contains
&#8839; &supe;
Not included in
&#8836; &nsub;
Proper subset of
&#8834; &sub;
Subset of
&#8838; &sube;

Arrows and Brackets
NAME SYMBOL NUMERIC
CODE
LITERAL
CODE
Left brace
[
&#91; None
Right brace
]
&#93; None
Left angle bracket
<
&#60; None
Right angle bracket
>
&#62; None
Left curley bracket
{
&#123; None
Right curley bracket
}
&#125; None
Double arrow
&#8596; &harr;
Left arrow
&#8592; &larr;
Up arrow
&#8593; &uarr;
Right arrow
®
&#8594; &rarr;
Down arrow
&#8595; &darr;
Double big arrow
&#8660; &hArr;
Double left arrow
&#8656; &lArr;
Double up arrow
&#8657; &uArr;
Double right arrow
&#8658; &rArr;
Double down arrow
&#8659; &dArr;
Ellipsis
&#8230; &hellip;
Left angle quote
«
&#171; &laquo;
Right angle quote
»
&#187; &raquo;

Greek Symbols
NOTE: Only the lower case letters are displayed. To obtain upper case use the equivalent upper case character.
NAME SYMBOL NUMERIC
CODE
LITERAL
CODE
alpha
α
&#945; &alpha;
beta
β
&#946; &beta;
gamma
γ
&#947; &gamma;
delta
δ
&#948; &delta;
epsilon
ε
&#949; &epsilon;
zeta
ζ
&#950; &zeta;
eta
η
&#951; &eta;
theta
θ
&#952; &theta;
iota
ι
&#953; &iota;
kappa
κ
&#954; &kappa;
lambda
λ
&#955; &lambda;
mu
μ
&#956; &mu;
nu
ν
&#957; &nu;
xi
ξ
&#958; &xi;
omicron
ο
&#959; &omicron;
pi
π
&#960; &pi;
rho
ρ
&#961; &rho;
sigma
σ
&#963; &sigma;
tau
τ
&#964; &tau;
upsilon
υ
&#965; &upsilon;
phi
φ
&#966; &phi;
chi
χ
&#967; &chi;
psi
ψ
&#968; &psi;
omega
ω
&#969; &omega;

Miscellaneous Symbols
NAME SYMBOL NUMERIC
CODE
LITERAL
CODE
Blank space
 
None &nbsp;
Number sign
#
&#35; None
Percent
%
&#37; None
Ampersand
&
&#38; &amp;
Prime
&#8242; &prime;
Double prime
&#8243; &Prime;
Quote
"
None &quot;
Therefore
&#8756; &there4;
Overline
&#8254 &oline;
Infinity
&#8734; &infin;
Degree
°
&#176; &deg;
Long dash
&#8212; &mdash;
Aleph
&#8501; &alefsym;
Angle sign
&#8736; &ang;
Upside-down triangle
&#8711; &nabla;
One-half
½
&#189; &frac12;
Cent sign
¢
&#162; &cent;
Registered sign
®
&#174; &reg;
Copyright sign
©
&#169; &copy;
Trademark sign
&#153; &trade;

Copyright © 1999-2009 by S D Comer (steve.comer@citadel.edu)