Find out how to insert combinations of scientific and math symbols fast with an iOS Shortcut – read my blog post about it
Further to my blog post about typing scientific notation and other symbols natively on the iOS keyboard below are some common Unicode characters for you to copy into your device’s text replacement fields. I have compiled a lot of characters that would be useful to scientists and mathematicians, for example Unicode superscript and subscript characters (of note superscript plus, superscript minus, superscript divide or slash) and a range of useful Unicode mathematical operators.
Symbols below are followed by an example iOS text replacement shortcut (where I’ve made one).
(Scroll down further for lists of symbols without example shortcuts.)
Superscript Unicode Characters
⁺ ^+
⁻ ^-
ᐟ ^/
⁰ ^0
¹ ^1
² ^2
³ ^3
⁴ ^4
⁵ ^5
⁶ ^6
⁷ ^7
⁸ ^8
⁹ ^9
ˢᵗ or ˢᵀ ^st
ⁿᵈ or ᴺᴰ ^nd
ʳᵈ or ᴿᴰ ^rd
ᵗʰ or ᵀᴴ ^th
(I prefer the capitalised versions in which only the “s” and “t” are of different sizes in some apps)
Subscript Unicode Characters
⸝ ,/
₀ ,0
₁ ,1
₂ ,2
₃ ,3
₄ ,4
₅ ,5
₆ ,6
₇ ,7
₈ ,8
₉ ,9
Numbers & Fractions
¼ 1/4
½ 1/2
¾ 3/4
⅓ 1/3
① (1)
② (2)
③ (3)
④ (4)
⑤ (5)
Math Symbols
× #x or xx
÷ #/
± +_
∞ #infinite
∝ #prop
√ sqrt
≠ !=
≈ #approx
∼
⇒ =>
∴ ^…
∫ #integral
θ
Arrows
➝ ->
← <-
↑ |^
↓ |v
↕︎ |^v
⇔ <->
Miscellaneous ✓ #tick or //
✘ #cross
☢
℃
℉
aapl
₿ btc
✂
⌫ #back
⌦ #del
⏏ #eject
⌘ #cmd
⎋ #esc
⏎ #ret
⌥ #option
⌃ #ctrl
␛
␡
¯ #macron
̇ #dot
The macron and dot directly above are combining symbols, so if you type it after a character (no space, like this V#dot or x#macron) it will insert a macron or dot over the character (e.g. V̇ and x̄).
Greek
α alpha or greeka
β beta or greekb
γ gamma or greekg
θ theta
λ lambda
μ mu
π pi
ρ rho
τ tau
σ sigma
δ delta
φ phi
ω omega
Ω Omega
Δ Delta
Just the symbols without “shortcuts”
Superscripts
⁺ ⁻ ᐟ
⁰ ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ ⁽ ⁾
ᵃ ᵇ ᶜ ᵈ ᵉ ᶠ ᵍ ʰ ⁱ ʲ ᵏ ˡ ᵐ ⁿ ᵒ ᵖ ʳ ˢ ᵗ ᵘ ᵛ ʷ ˣ ʸ ᶻ
ᴬ ᴮ ᴰ ᴱ ᴳ ᴴ ᴵ ᴶ ᴷ ᴸ ᴹ ᴺ ᴼ ᴾ ᴿ ˢ ᵀ ᵁ ⱽ ᵂ
Subscripts
₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ ₅ ₆ ₇ ₈ ₉ ₊ ₋ ⸝
Numbers
¼ ½ ¾ ⅓
① ② ③ ④ ⑤
Math Symbols
× ÷ ± ∞ ∝ √≠ ≈ ∼ ⇒ ∴ ∫
Arrows
➝ ← ↑ ↓ ⇔ ↕︎
Miscellaneous
✓ ✘ ☢ ℃ ℉ ₿✂ ⌫ ⌦ ⏏ ⌘ ⎋ ⏎ ⌥ ⌃ ␛ ␡ ̄ ̇
Greek
α β γ θ λ μ π ρ τ σ δ φ ω Ω Δ