| ÷ | |
|---|---|
Division sign | |
| In Unicode | U+00F7 ÷DIVISION SIGN (÷, ÷) |
| Different from | |
| Different from | U+2052 ⁒COMMERCIAL MINUS SIGN U+002B +PLUS SIGN |
| Related | |
| See also | U+2236 ∶RATIO U+003A :COLON |
Thedivision sign (÷) is amathematical symbol consisting of a short horizontal line with a dot above and another dot below, used inAnglophone countries to indicate the operation ofdivision. This usage is not universal and the symbol has different meanings in other countries. Consequently, its use to denote division is deprecated in theISO 80000-2 standard for notations used in mathematics, science and technology.[1] In older textbooks, it is called anobelus, though that term is also used of other symbols.
Theobelus, a historicalglyph consisting of a horizontal line with (or without) one or more dots, was first used as a symbol for division in 1659, in thealgebra bookTeutsche Algebra byJohann Rahn, although previous writers had used the same symbol for subtraction.[2] Some near-contemporaries believed thatJohn Pell, who edited the book, may have been responsible for this use of the symbol.[2] Other symbols for division include theslash or solidus/, thecolon:, and thefraction bar (the horizontal bar in a vertical fraction).[3][4] The ISO 80000-2 standard for mathematical notation in science and technology recommends only the solidus/ or "fraction bar" for division, or the "colon": forratios; it says that the÷ sign "should not be used" for division.[1]
InItaly,Poland andRussia, the same÷ sign was sometimes used to denote arange of values, and inScandinavian countries it was, and sometimes still is, used as a negation sign:[5] theUnicode Consortium has allocated a separatecode point,U+2052 ⁒COMMERCIAL MINUS SIGN for this usage uniquely;[6][7] the exact form of the symbol displayed is typeface (font) dependent.
The symbol was assigned tocode point 0xF7 inISO 8859-1, as the "division sign". This encoding was transferred toUnicode as U+00F7.[8] InHTML, it can beencoded as÷ or÷ (atHTML level 3.2), or as÷.
Unicode provides various division symbols:[9]
| Codepoint | Name | Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| U+00F7 | Division Sign | ÷ |
| U+27CC | Long Division | ⟌ |
| U+2215 | Division Slash | ∕ |
| U+2A38 | Circled Division Sign | ⨸ |
| U+2797 | Heavy Division Sign | ➗ |
| U+2298 | Circled Division Slash | ⊘ |
| U+22C7 | Division Times | ⋇ |
| U+29BC | Circled Anticlockwise-Rotated Division Sign | ⦼ |
Most programming languages use only the printable andwhitespaceASCII characters, and so do not use the ÷ character. However, the programming languageAPL uses ÷ for the unaryreciprocal operator and the binary division operator.
The dictionary definition ofdivision sign at Wiktionary