What is Symbol: Definition and 377 Discussions

A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences. All communication (and data processing) is achieved through the use of symbols. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas, or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and beliefs. For example, a red octagon is a common symbol for "STOP"; on maps, blue lines often represent rivers; and a red rose often symbolizes love and compassion. Numerals are symbols for numbers; letters of an alphabet may be symbols for certain phonemes; and personal names are symbols representing individuals. The variable 'x', in a mathematical equation, may symbolize the position of a particle in space.
The academic study of symbols is semiotics. In cartography, an organized collection of symbols forms a legend for a map.

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  1. E

    Where Can I Find a Free Font with the Electric Field Symbol for Word?

    Yo! Anyone know of any free font compatible with Word (or that comes with Word!) that has the goddam electric field symbol in it? Whoever came up with that sign had an irrational hatred of word processors.
  2. P

    What does the small circle symbol in (f◦g)(x) mean

    have not seen this anywhere I've looked, anyone know?
  3. R

    Derivation of Christoffel symbol

    Has anyone a derivation at hand of the Christoffel symbol by permuting of indices in a free fall system? Roland
  4. T

    Q for Heat: Exploring the Origin of the Symbol

    For a bonus question my physics teacher asked if anyone knew why we use the letter "Q" in terms of heat. If anyone can explain the origin of why we use Q for the symbol your response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
  5. A

    Legendre symbol proof for (-5/p)

    I am working on some homework that I already handed in, but I can't get one of the problems. The fourth problem on the HW was to prove the forms of (-1/p), (2/p), (3/p), (-5/p), and (7/p). I did this for -1 and 2 using the quadratic residues and generalizing a form for them. for 3 and 7 i...
  6. D

    Troubleshooting VHDL Circuit: Undefined Symbol in Line 30

    I'm having trouble with the following VHDL code: library IEEE; use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_1164.ALL; use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_ARITH.ALL; use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_UNSIGNED.ALL; entity circuit is port (a, b, c: in std_logic; f1, f2, f3, f4, f5, f6: out std_logic); end circuit; architecture...
  7. E

    How Were Sine and Cosine Discovered?

    There is a symbol that looks like this http://mathworld.wolfram.com/nimg268.gif The symbol is like a line that is curved on both ends. Thanks in advance!
  8. T

    What Is the Symbol \nabla^2? Definition & Explanation

    What's that symbol? Today we've studied in the electrodynamique an affector named dalamperes affector defined as: \nabla^2 - \frac{1}{c^2}\cdot\frac{\partial^2}{\partial t^2} c is the speed of light in vacuum, t is time, \nabla is hameltons affector, HERE IS THE QUESTION: What's the...
  9. tony873004

    How to Put an Angstrom Symbol in Microsoft Equation Editor

    I'm trying to put an Angstrom symbol into a microsoft Word document. It's a capital A with a little circle over it. But what is that character called? It's not a greek symbol, I don't think. Does anyone know how to put it in Microsoft Equation Editor, or even what it's called so I can...
  10. B

    What Does the Tall Pi Symbol Mean?

    does anyone know what the symbol that looks like a tall pi means?
  11. W

    Transformation law for Christoffel symbol of first kind

    Hi, I have met a problem, that is how to prove transformation law for Christoffel symbol of first kind. I have read books about that, but many of them just state: cyclic permutation of the 3 indices and substitution. When I tried to work out, I could not elimate some terms... Can anyone show...
  12. A

    The Mysterious Name of the Integral Symbol: A Mystery Solved?

    What is the actual name for the integral symbol? I know it was first used by Leibniz, but did he actually call it anything...? It's really hard trying to convince my friends the integral symbol is the sexiest thing ever invented, when I don't even know her true name. :blushing:
  13. L

    What does this symbol stand for?

    4πε0r^2 Thats 4pi (backwards 3 0) R squared. I forget what the backwards 3 o stands for can someone help me out
  14. L

    What does this symbol stand for?

    4πε0r^2 Thats 4pi (backwards 3 0) R squared. I forget what the backwards 3 o stands for can someone help me out.
  15. T

    Math Symbol "Enigma" - Does it Represent "There Exists"?

    "Enigma" Is this the correct name for a math symbol that represents the phrase, "There exists"? I believe it's something like an 'E'.
  16. A

    Formal definition of what the symbol 0

    hellooooooooooo everybody ! can anyone please prove the following : 0! = 1 cheers abc
  17. S

    Very simple symbol question regarding a logarithmic function (I can't find it)

    Well I have this leftwards arrow in my book describing the solution to a logarithmic function and I've not seen it thus far and (if I was ever introduced to it) have since forgot what it means! When asked to find log(3)9 3^x = 9 3^x = 3^2 <--x = 2 log(3)9 = 2 I'm not sure what the...
  18. Loren Booda

    Symbol html on Netscape and Explorer

    "Symbol" html on Netscape and Explorer Apparently my recently installed Netscape 7.2 does not translate to Greek my website html symbol code, where Explorer had. Why is this so, and how can I either make Netscape translate or choose Explorer as my default browser for executing my FTP document...
  19. P

    What is the significance of the Christoffel symbol as a tensor?

    On page 34 of General Relativity, Robert Wald, the author refers to the Christoffel symbol as a tensor of rank (1,2). That whole derivation that led to that is quite involved so I don't quite understand how Wald can say that the Christoffel symbols are tensors since normally one does not refer...
  20. A

    Olympics, symbol of peace and stuff. Right.

    The USA is sending 400 armed soldiers to the Olympics. Yay. http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10208766%255E28793,00.html
  21. C

    Unknown symbol in a fuzzy logic equation

    Hi people I study on image processing and fuzzy logic. When I working on histogram normalization, I saw an equation which includes a symbol 'U' letter. On the bottom of the 'U' (m=1) and on the top of the 'U' (K) is written. And i want to learn what its (U) mean. Thanks in advance...
  22. C

    Why the symbol c was chosen to represent the speed of light

    Anyone knows why the symbol c was chosen to represent the speed of light in vacuum? Or is there no reason really?
  23. D

    Why is there no symbol for partial integration?

    When you are solving exact differential equations you want to do the opposite of partial differentiation, And when you apply Leibniz's integration I have seen an example were there was an integral symbol (with respect to x) and they treated the other variable as a constant. Is the notation...
  24. F

    Does the integral symbol have a name?

    I find myself continually referring to this: \int as the 'integral-symbol-thingy'. Does it have a name? I asked my math teacher; he said it has a name but he couldn't remember it.
  25. D

    Why Nabla Symbol Not Listed Under Math Symbols

    Under the list of math symbols, nabla doesn't show up (the upside down triangle). Why is that? I just use &#9660 instead.
  26. dawidi

    A symbol for scientific knowledge?

    I was wondering how it could be possible to make some other ("sci-fi" thinking, I know...) intelligent lifeform aware of human knowledge and scientific status by means of a symbol or something - assuming of course that this other lifeform can interpret two-dimensional vector graphics as a means...
  27. Dissident Dan

    Word games #2) Fallacies in Symbol Replacement

    This is the first thread in what may or may not be a series, depending on logical topics that I think need to be addressed. I want people to understand the fallacies of certain "word games" so they can stop wasting time with fallacioius arguments. Let's start with what I call symbol...
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