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An obelus (plural: obeluses or obeli) is a term in codicology and latterly in typography that refers to a historical annotation mark which has resolved to three modern meanings: Division sign ÷; Dagger † Commercial minus sign ⁒ (limited geographical area of use)
The division sign (÷) is a mathematical symbol consisting of a short horizontal line with a dot above and another dot below, used in Anglophone countries to indicate the operation of division. This usage, though widespread in some countries, is not universal and the symbol has a different meaning in other countries.
The following table lists many common symbols, together with their name, how they should be read out loud, and the related field of mathematics. Additionally, the subsequent columns contains an informal explanation, a short example, the Unicode location, the name for use in HTML documents, [1] and the LaTeX symbol.
3. Between two groups, may mean that the first one is a proper subgroup of the second one. > (greater-than sign) 1. Strict inequality between two numbers; means and is read as "greater than". 2. Commonly used for denoting any strict order. 3. Between two groups, may mean that the second one is a proper subgroup of the first one. ≤ 1.
('Scarab' is an informal name for the generic currency sign) § Section sign: section symbol, section mark, double-s, 'silcrow' Pilcrow; Semicolon: Colon ℠ Service mark symbol: Trademark symbol / Slash (non-Unicode name) Division sign, Forward Slash: also known as "stroke" / Solidus (the most common of the slash symbols) Division sign: Called ...
Three variants of obelus glyphs. The dagger symbol originated from a variant of the obelus, originally depicted by a plain line − or a line with one or two dots ÷. [7] It represented an iron roasting spit, a dart, or the sharp end of a javelin, [8] symbolizing the skewering or cutting out of dubious matter.
This division sign is also used alone to represent the division operation itself, as for instance as a label on a key of a calculator. The obelus was introduced by Swiss mathematician Johann Rahn in 1659 in Teutsche Algebra. [10]: 211 The ÷ symbol is used to indicate subtraction in some European countries, so its use may be misunderstood. [11]
The following table lists many specialized symbols commonly used in modern mathematics, ordered by their introduction date. The table can also be ordered alphabetically by clicking on the relevant header title.