A List of Notations based on Introductory College Algebra by Rietz and Crathorne (1929)

+, read plus. -, read minus.

X, or *, or ∙, read times or multiply.

÷, or /, read divided by.

=, read is equal to.

≈, or , read is approximate to

≡, read is identical to.

≠, read is not equal to.

→, read approaches.

<, read is less than.

>, read is greater than.

≤, read is less than or equal to.

≥, read is greater than or equal to.

∩, read intersection.

U, read union.

a!, read factorial a.

( ) Parentheses.

[ ] Brackets.

{ } Braces.

a_r, read a subscript r, or a sub r.

x’, x”, ∙∙∙, read x prime, x second or x double prime, ∙∙∙ respectively

lim x, read limit of x.

x → ∞, read as x goes to infinity.

|a|, read absolute value of a.

an, read a to the nth power, or a exponent n.

√a, read square root of a.

f(x), φ(x), etc. read “f” function of x, “φ” function of x, etc.

(x,y), read point whose coordinates are x and y.