Got Unicode?
Statistical Symbols on the Web
Unlike other mathematical symbols, stat symbols like x̄ (X-Bar) and p̂ (p hat), are actually made with a letter followed by a "combining diacritic." So it's just like...phonetic notation!
Note on Safari: The use of combining diacritics means the symbols will not display properly in Safari (as of version 2.0). Safari just doesn't like them at the moment.
Set the Font
Sans-Serif
For the Web, you should make sure the page font is set to display Arial Unicode MS (Win) and Lucida Grande (Mac). The CSS formatting instructions are listed below.
.utf8sans {"Arial Unicode MS", "Lucida Grande" sans-serif}
Serif
If you want serif type, you can specify popular third-party serif fonts, but make sure the basic Unicode fonts are included. See CSS below.
.mathsym {"Chrysanthi Unicode ","Apple Symbols", "Lucida Grande", "Arial Unicode MS"}
HTML Codes
Some codes like that for x̄ (X-bar) are actually a combination of two codes - the base letter x plus a code for the line above (̄: or ¯).
Note: If you are having problems seeing the letters in the chart, then your browser may not support diacritics. Safari does not currently display combining diacritics.
| x̄ | x̄ (X-Bar) |
|---|---|
| p̂ | p̂ (P-hat) |
| Σ | Σ or ∑ (Sigma Sum Sign) |
| Π | Π or ∏ (Pi Product Sign) |
| μ | μ or µ (mu mean sign) |
| σ | σ (sigma standard deviation) |
| χ | χ (chi) |
Some More Complex Examples
D-Bar
If you place a combining line with a capital D, the line will generally merge into the D letter (it's not visible). One solution is to use CSS to shrink the letter D to about 80%, then place combining diacritic code. See the code below.
| D̄ | <span style="font-size:80%">D</span>̄ (d-Bar) |
|---|
Subscripts and Superscript
- To display a subscript, enclose the text in <sub></sub> tags
- To display a superscript, enclose the text in <sup></sup> tags
Examples
- x2 (x-squared) = x<sup>2</sup>
- x2 (x sub 2) = x<sub>2</sub>
- χ2 (x-squared) = χ<sup>2</sup>
Nested Subscripts
sx̄1 - x̄2 (S sub X1 bar - X2 bar)
<sub class="mathsym">x̄<sub>1</sub> - x̄<sub>2</sub></sub>