There are large number of special symbols used in mathematical calculations. Frankly, you don’t need to be a mathematician to use these symbols. Normal users also need to insert some of the mathematical symbols in documents like the division sign ÷. In this article, we will show how you can easily use the alt code shortcuts to insert mathematical symbols on your documents.

Unicode has a code point from 2200 to 22FF for mathematical operators. In addition, there are also many other mathematical symbols part of Unicode system like integrals, greater/less than, etc. You can use the decimal values of the Unicode points to use with the alt keys on Windows based documents. Below is the complete list of alt code shortcuts for mathematical symbols. Drop in a comment, if you see some important symbol is missing.

Also, learn how to type vulgar fractions with alt code shortcuts.

There are multiple ways you can insert mathematical symbols in Windows 10/11.

On Windows based documents, hold one of the alt key on your keyboard and press the numbers in the first column of the above table. For example, alt + 177 will produce the plus or minus symbols like ±. This will work on all Windows based Microsoft documents like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. However, you need to have a keyboard with number pad for using alt code shortcuts.

If you don’t have a keyboard with numeric keypad, then use the hexadecimal equivalent for the decimal numbers. You can type the hexadecimal numbers then press alt and x keys together. For example, 00F7 + alt + x will produce the division symbol like ÷. However, this method will only work on Microsoft Word documents.

Microsoft introduced emoji keyboard in Windows 10 to quickly insert emoji symbols in your documents. Later, with version 1903 the keyboard has been updated to include kaomoji and special symbols. With Windows 11, you can simply select “Symbols” icon and then look under “Math Symbols” to insert them in few clicks. This includes fractions, enclosed numbers, roman numerals and all other math symbols.

You can also use the Symbol utility in all Office documents like Word, Excel and PowerPoint to insert math symbols. When you are in the document, go to “Insert > Symbols” menu to open “Symbol” utility. Change the font to “Symbol” and look for mathematical symbol to insert on your document.

The last option is to use the independent Character Map app. You can search for Character Map in Windows Search and open the app. Change the font to “Symbol” and find the math symbols as shown in the below picture. Double click on the symbol to select and then click “Copy” button to copy to clipboard. You can insert the copied symbol anywhere on your documents.

You can use the above shortcut methods to insert few math symbols. However, when you want to insert a complex equations, you need to use the “Equation” option instead of using symbols. When you are in Office document, go to “Insert > Equation” menu. Choose the type of the equation and type accordingly.

In addition to typing equations, you can also select the math symbols from different categories like Basic Math, Greek Letters, Letter-Like Symbols, Operators, Arrows, Negated Relations, Scripts and Geometry.

On Mac, you can use the hexadecimal code values with alt or option keys to type mathematical symbols. For example, option + 2A76 will produce the three equal symbols like ⩶. You should change the keyboard input to Unicode Hex Input for using alt codes in Mac.

The other easy way on Mac is to use the Character Viewer app. Press, “Control + Command + Spacebar” to open Character Viewer app. Go to Math Symbols section and insert the symbol you want. The biggest advantage of this method is that you can choose hundreds of variations for each math symbol.

The math symbols typed using the alt code shortcuts, Symbol utility and Character Map are like a text characters. You can change the size and format these symbols similar to any other text content on your documents. This is same for using option code shortcuts in Mac and Character Viewer app. Especially, you can choose many font variations of math symbols in Character Viewer app.

When you use equations, the symbols will behave like text boxes inside your document. You need to manually align the position and line height of the equations to match with other text content. Also, the equations will become unreadable or converted to images when you change the document formats. Therefore, avoid using equations for smaller needs and use superscript, subscripts and math symbols using other explained options.

You can download the below image by right clicking and saving to your computer for offline reference.