Unicode subscripts and superscripts

This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Unicode subscripts and superscripts is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:

Related Sponsors

BM Pharmacy Generic pharmaceuticals at unbeatable prices. Insomnia, men's health, hair health, pain control. bmpharmacy.com
Online Pharmacy Carisoprodol, tadalafil, sildenafil, vardenafil and more... xlpharmacy.com
MedBasket.com Discreet. Inexpensive. Fast shipping. Great selection. What more can we say? medbasket.com
Frugalmed 2000 reasons to shop with us first. frugalmed.com
Ads by Tiva

This page contains special characters.
Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display these glyphs properly. More info…

Unicode has subscripted and superscripted versions of a number of characters including a full set of arabic numerals. These characters allow any polynomial equation and some other equations to be represented in plain text without using any form of markup like HTML or TEX. With the exception of using "²" and "³" for squared and cubed units it is considered inadvisable to use these characters when other methods of superscript and subscript are available.

The difference between subscript/superscript and numerator/denominator glyphs. In many popular fonts the Unicode "subscript" and "superscript" characters are actually numerator and denominator glyphs. The typeface is Myriad Pro.
The difference between subscript/superscript and numerator/denominator glyphs. In many popular fonts the Unicode "subscript" and "superscript" characters are actually numerator and denominator glyphs. The typeface is Myriad Pro.

Note as well that most fonts that include these characters use them for mathematical numerator and denominator glyphs, which are smaller than normal characters but are aligned with the cap line and the baseline, respectively. When used with the solidus, these glyphs are useful for making arbitrary diagonal fractions (similar to the ½ glyph), but are not substitutes for proper mathematical sub- or superscripts.

The most common superscript digits were in ISO-8859-1 at positions B9HEX, B2HEX and B3HEX for digits 1, 2, and 3 respectively and have therefore been carried over into those positions in the Latin-1 range of Unicode. The rest were placed in a dedicated section of Unicode at U+2070 to U+209F. The two tables below show the characters in this range. Each superscript or subscript character is preceded by a normal x to show the subscripting/superscripting. The table on the left contains the actual Unicode characters (which may not render correctly in your browser); the one on the right contains the equivalents using HTML markup for the subscript/superscript.

Unicode
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+207x x⁰ xⁱ x⁴ x⁵ x⁶ x⁷ x⁸ x⁹ x⁺ x⁻ x⁼ x⁽ x⁾ xⁿ
U+208x x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅ x₆ x₇ x₈ x₉ x₊ x₋ x₌ x₍ x₎
U+209x xₐ xₑ xₒ xₓ xₔ
HTML
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+207x x0 xi x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 x+ x− x= x( x) xn
U+208x x0 x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 x+ x− x= x( x)
U+209x xa xe xo xx xə

References

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 27 September 2008, at 14:12.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Unicode subscripts and superscripts".

The URL for this specific entry is:

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.