±
Plus Minus Sign
- Unicode
- U+00B1
- Category
- Math
- HTML Entity
- ±
- CSS
- \00B1
The plus-minus sign (±) is a mathematical symbol used to represent a choice between a positive and a negative value, or to indicate a margin of error. While famously recognized from algebraic equations like the quadratic formula, it is also widely used in statistics, engineering tolerances, and scientific measurements. In everyday text, people frequently use it as a shorthand for "approximately" or "give or take" when referring to estimates.
How to Type
- Windows
- Alt+0177
- macOS
- Option+Shift+=
- Linux
- Compose + + + -
- HTML
- ± or ±
In Programming
While rarely used as a direct mathematical operator in source code syntax, the ± symbol frequently appears in string outputs, scientific documentation, and user interfaces. Most programming languages require developers to calculate upper and lower bounds separately using standard addition and subtraction, rather than using a single ± operator.
Tags
approximately
approximation
arithmetic
error range
give or take
margin of error
mathematics
plus minus
plus or minus
quadratic formula
standard deviation
tolerance
tolerance symbol
uncertainty