# Useful maths symbols - tips and made up symbols for quick writing?

I am looking for some symbols for the most common words in maths problems, such as : such as (":"), given (for some reason I am using $\sqsupset$ ), assume (I use $\downarrow$ ) etc and any common words in mathematical physics. Anything you might have came up with would be very appreciated. The basic idea is to eliminate words.

I am aware that is not a good practice and mathematical writing should be as readable as possible. Thanks.

And just to say that I am familiar with conventional symbols.

• There used to exist a programming language called APL. Look it up, and you will find huge amounts of strange symbols that made any program unreadable. Dec 15 '13 at 23:03
• @StephenMontgomery-Smith The strange symbols weren't the only cause for the unreadability. $J$ or $K$ use only symbols you have on normal keyboards. They're not any less unreadable than APL ;) Dec 15 '13 at 23:06
• Some people use $\ni$ for 'such that,' and of course there are the ever annoying $\therefore$ for 'therefore' and $\because$ for 'because.' Dec 15 '13 at 23:21
• Look at answers by Bill Dubuque. Dec 15 '13 at 23:34

• $\rightarrow$ for limits. Writing $S_{n} \rightarrow s$ would be shorthand for the limit of $S_{n}$ as $n$ approaches $\infty$.
• $\therefore$ is short for therefore.