# What is the command for the LaTeX plus minus sign?

LaTeX: What is the command for the plus-minus sign?

I know this is very late, but for others like me who are also looking for this answer: Indeed, everyone’s answer is correct. You have to use \pm. But the package for this command is \siunitx. The plusminus sign (also, plus or minus sign), ±, is a mathematical symbol with multiple meanings. In mathematics, it generally indicates a choice of exactly two possible values, one of which is obtained through addition and the other through subtraction.

the sign ± used to indicate a quantity (such as 2 in “the square root of 4 is ±2”) taking on both an algebraically positive value and its negative and to indicate a plus or minus quantity (such as 4 in “the population age was 30 ± 4 years”) — called also plus/minus symbol. Also for printing 20 ± 18, you have to write $20 \pm 18$. Without a \$ sign, the lines may overlap. I’ve been using LaTeX for a decade, as a mathematics undergraduate and graduate student.

The usual plus-minus symbol is \pm. If you want it with the minus on top, meaning minus-plus, it’s \mp. The plus-or-minus sign in LATEX is represented using \pm; it looks like this: ±.

#### How to type Plus/minus sign ±

1. Hold down the ALT key and type 0177 on the keypad.
2. Hold down the Shift and Option keys and press =
3. &plusmn; or &#177; More symbols in the category: How to type math symbols | How To Type.net.

## What is the command for the LaTeX plus minus sign?

The usual plus-minus symbol is \pm. If you want it with the minus on top, meaning minus-plus, it’s \mp. The plus-or-minus sign in LATEX is represented using \pm; it looks like this:

The minus-plus sign, on the other hand, is represented using \mp; it looks like this: ∓.

For example, the standard formula for the factorization of sums-and-differences of cubes would be represented by x^3 \pm y^3 = (x \pm y)(x^2 \mp XY + y^2), or x3±y3=(x±y)(x2∓xy+y2).

## LaTeX: What is the command for the plus-minus sign?

Latex is far from dead, it is the main text processing tool in academia, whereas Word (and Clones) is used in the industry. I’m not aware of industry companies using Latex. Latex is the predominant format requested by scientific journals because they can take the Latex-input document right away without another processing step from Word to Latex. Personally I prefer Latex for any text which is longer than a few pages, I wouldn’t use Latex to write letters or so for example.

Latex lets me write texts more efficiently than Word because it relieves me from using the mouse to format the text. This “keyboard-mindedness” is as well related to the fact that I am a software developer too, so I am used to thinking in code and so code rather than using the mouse. Additionally, I create a quite large document class providing features I need to produce documents formatted according to our formatting standards. Other reasons why I prefer Latex are: it produces more beautiful output in terms of the fonts they provide and in terms of formatting the document.

Secondly, Latex is for me the weapon of choice to create standardized documents from data and text building blocks coming from databases.

## What is LaTeX?

LaTeX is a document preparation system that makes it easy to write scientific and technical documents. Some of its main advantages are the high quality of the documents it generates, the possibility of writing complex mathematical formulas, and managing references and cross-references in a document.

The main feature that differentiates LaTeX from other common alternatives for writing documents (for example, Microsoft Word) is that LaTeX is based on distinguishing between the content of a document and the format in which this content is presented.

In processors like Word, we see the form and format of the document we create directly on the screen. In LaTeX, on the other hand, we add the content together with small instructions written in the form of labels that indicate the format of the different sections. To obtain the document in its final state, a compilation process is necessary to interpret the formatting instructions that we have introduced.

Although depending on what type of documents this may seem inconvenient, the reality is that it is beneficial to work on the content of a document without worrying about the problems associated with its format. When a record reaches a considerable length in standard word processors, the problems begin: the loading speed increases, random page breaks appear, internal references break, etc. All of these problems are ultimately a consequence of working on content and format aspects simultaneously.

It can avoid with LaTeX since you are always working with a simple, unformatted document. All formatting instructions are indicated with the appropriate tags and are interpreted when we compile the document. In addition, LaTeX automatically manages certain essential aspects of a paper such as table of contents, bibliography lists or cross-references to images, equations, etc.

## A brief history of LaTeX

LaTeX is based on the TeX typesetting system, developed by Donald E. Knuth in the late 1970s. Leslie Lamport wrote a series of macros in the 1980s to facilitate its use based on this system. It resulted in LaTeX, an abbreviation for Lamport TeX.

The appearance of LaTeX made this tool, and the use of TeX spread rapidly among academic circles. In addition, the fact that it is based on an open-source system has made it easier for contributors from all over the world to increase the capabilities of this system.

Since the first version of LaTeX by Leslie Lamport, there have been several updates to maintain consistency and a sure standardization. Currently, the most widely used version is LaTeX 2ε.

## LaTeX tutorials

On this page, we present a series of tutorials to start working and create your documents in LaTeX. The first step you must follow is to install a LaTeX distribution on your computer. You can then use a text editor or a specialized LaTeX editing program to create your first document.

Once you have completed the first case, you can insert a cover page in your first document and learn how to structure the different sections of your work correctly. It is also essential that you know some of the basic concepts of LaTeX, such as the use of additional packages to increase the number of commands at your disposal.

You can also find tutorials for inserting equations, matrices, tables, images, lists, and enumerations.

An essential advantage of LaTeX is that it can automatically generate a table of contents in your document, insert footnotes and manage cross-references or bibliography. Finally, you will find some tutorials on more specific aspects, such as, for example, customizing headers and footers or changing the type and font size.

For instance, our team stores data on devices and test cases in a database, wherefrom I generate test plans and device lists in a standardized format provided by our quality assurance team.

### Is LaTeX dead? If yes, what are some modern alternatives?

This is very neatly possible by means of Python scripts accessing the DB and putting out Latex code which is processed on a server I run creating PDF-documents. I could do the same with Word, but there I had to use commercial products which we simply cannot afford as a research institute.

Still, Latex has a couple of weaknesses which are annoying: Word is far stronger in terms of collaboration and document proofing by multiple authors.

Furthermore, the possibility to write VBA-Macros is a very nice feature, especially when it comes to pushing data from a Word document to my database (I use this feature to create traceable requirements in specifications).

#### However, if Latex had the Word features above, I would definitely drop Word altogether.

Edit on 17.05.2018: as I get a lot of very interesting suggestions on Latex-extensions providing support for collaborative document editing, I want to say thanks to all of these suggestions. However, another argument came into my mind why people find the work with Latex so inconvenient in the first place: they are used to work with pen and paper and this is what Word is very good at.

You install a program, you start to type and that’s it – very much like in the good old typewriter days. Working with Latex is quite much different and it requires some work to put together a working environment that has a similar look and feel like pen and paper Word and clones.

Furthermore, I think Latex becomes too expensive in a non-academic environment: you cannot put untrained people in front of the computer and expect they can get something reasonable out of Latex, but you can do that with Word.

And I want to emphasize that I do not say that because I am an apologist of the death of Latex, I say this because I want to put point out the weaknesses of Latex (which are potential areas of improvement maybe…).

#### Edit on 16.03.2019: Concerning the collaborative aspect I collected experience with the following tools:

• Overleaf: seems to be the best collaborative tool on the market. What I don‘t like is that it is in the cloud, which makes me hesitating when it comes to hosting documents there with sensitive/confidential content. And you need to buy a monthly license to be able to use it to upload and collaborate. If it were self–hosted, I think I would definitively like my company to provide it as a standard tool. An interesting discussion on self–hosted online tools is here on Stackexchange: Selfhosted collaborative web-based LaTeX editor
• Git(lab) is my favorite tool so far. It does not have the excellent online possibilities and tools to edit Latex documents overleaf is providing (to my knowledge), but it provides a robust environment for versioning, and collaborative versioning with branching, merging, etc.
• SharePoint is not very good in this context to my taste. Even if I like Sharepoint very much as a content management platform, it lacks the branching and merging features and the possibilities to interact with the repository from the command line Git offers. Typical to Microsoft users, SharePoint seems to be tailored rather to a casual user (mouse interaction) than a power user.

LaTeX: What is the command for the plus-minus sign?

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### Conclusion:

The plusminus sign (also, plus or minus sign), ±, is a mathematical symbol with multiple meanings. In mathematics, it generally indicates a choice of exactly two possible values, one of which is obtained through addition and the other through subtraction. … In chemistry, the sign is used to indicate a racemic mixture.

Use the word minus to mean “less” or “with the subtraction of.” When it’s minus fifteen degrees outside, it’s fifteen below zero — or fifteen degrees less than zero. Whenever you talk about negative numbers, whether they relate to temperature or your bank account, the adjective minus always applies.

What is the command for the LaTeX plus minus sign?