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.)
If you have a Mac I highly recommend aText which harnesses the text shortcuts you set up on any device on your iCloud account and makes them much more reliable on macOS.
Useful Superscript Unicode Characters
| Unicode | Shortcut | Unicode | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⁰ | ^0 | ⁵ | ^5 |
| ¹ | ^1 | ⁶ | ^6 |
| ² | ^2 | ⁷ | ^7 |
| ³ | ^3 | ⁸ | ^8 |
| ⁴ | ^4 | ⁹ | ^9 |
| Unicode | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| ⁺ | ^+ |
| ⁻ | ^- |
| ᐟ | ^/ |
| ˢᵗ or ˢᵀ | ^st |
| ⁿᵈ or ᴺᴰ | ^nd |
| ʳᵈ or ᴿᴰ | ^rd |
| ᵗʰ or ᵀᴴ | ^th |
(I prefer the capitalised versions of number suffixes in which only the “s” and “t” are of different sizes in some apps)
Useful Subscript Unicode Characters
| Unicode | Shortcut | Unicode | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₀ | ,0 | ₅ | ,5 |
| ₁ | ,1 | ₆ | ,6 |
| ₂ | ,2 | ₇ | ,7 |
| ₃ | ,3 | ₈ | ,8 |
| ₄ | ,4 | ₉ | ,9 |
| Unicode | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| ₘₐₓ | [max] |
| ⸝ | ,/ |
| ₊ | ,+ |
| ₋ | ,- |
| ₌ | ,= |
| ₍ | ,( |
| ₎ | ,) |
Numbers & Fractions
| Unicode | Shortcut | Unicode | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ | 1/4 | ① | (1) |
| ½ | 1/2 | ② | (2) |
| ¾ | 3/4 | ③ | (3) |
| ⅓ | 1/3 | ④ | (4) |
| ⅔ | 2/3 | ⑤ | (5) |
Math Symbols and Arrows
| Unicode | Shortcut | Unicode | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| × | x or xx | ∞ | #infinite |
| ÷ | #/ | ≈ | #approx |
| ± | +_ | ∴ | ^… |
| ∝ | #prop | ➝ | -> |
| √ | #sqrt | ← | <- |
| ≠ | != | ↑ | |^ |
| θ | theta | ↓ | |v |
| ⇒ | => | ↕︎ | ^|v |
| ∫ | integral | ⇔ | <=> |
Miscellaneous
✓ #tick or ///
✘ #cross
☢
℃
℉
aapl
₿ btc
✂
⌫ #back
⌦ #del
⏏ #eject
⌘ #cmd
⎋ #esc
⏎ #ret
⌥ #option
⌃ #ctrl
␛
␡
¯ #macron
̅ #bar
̇ #dot
The macron, overline (or bar) and dot directly above are combining symbols, so if you type it after a character (no space, like this V#dot or x#bar) 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 Unicode symbols without suggested “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