Mathematical symbols

SYMBOL

EXAMPLE

MEANING

.

8.5689

eight point five six eight nine

+

R1 + R2

R one plus R two

–

V – V1

V minus V one

±

±3m

plus or minus three meters

=

R = R1 + R2

R equals / is equal to R one plus R two

≠

V ≠ V1 + V2

V doesn't equal / is not equal to V one plus V two

≈

I ≈ 28mA

is approximately equal to twenty-eight milliamps

×

f × 120

F times / multiplied by one hundred and twenty

no sign between two quantities

E = lR

E equals I times / multiplied by R

one quantity over another

I/R

I over / divided by R
The ratio of I to R

÷

36 ÷ 5 =7.2

thirty-six divided by five equals seven point two

∝

I ∝ V

I is proportional to V

:

11:1

(a ratio of) eleven to one

%

25%

twenty-five per cent

°

30°C

thirty degrees celsius

√

√5

the square root of / root of five

2

R2

R squared

3

X3

X cubed

4

104

ten to the power four
 8  10-8 ten to the power minus eight

> 

>10 dB

greater than ten decibels

< 

<25 mA

less than twenty-five milliamps

≥

≥ 5W

greater than or equal to five watts

≤

≤ 10W

less than or equal to ten watts


Unit prefixes

the prefixes below can be written in front of units to multiply them or divide them by a specific number. For example, 1 mA = 0.001 A.

Prefix

Abbreviation

Multiplication factor

tera

T

× 1012

giga

G

× 109

mega

M

× 106

kilo

k

× 103

hecto

h

× 100

deca

da

× 10

deci

d

× 0.1

centi

c

× 0.01

milli

m

× 10-3

micro

µ

× 10-6

nano

n

× 10-9

pico

p

× 10-12

url characters 

SYMBOL

MEANING

EXAMPLES

/

forward slash

www.tinyurl.com/qat7n
w w w dot tiny u r l dot com forward slash q a t 7 n

http://www.mercedes-benz.com
h t t p colon double forward slash w w w dot mercedes hyphen benz dot com

\

back slash

.

dot

:

colon

-

hyphen

_

underscore

Last modified: Monday, 22 April 2024, 11:01 AM