Symbols · Relations
≡ Identical to (congruent)
Say it: “is identical to”, “is defined as”, “is congruent to”
What it means
Three bars mean more than equal: the two sides agree for every value (an identity), the left side is defined as the right, or, in number theory, two numbers leave the same remainder.
Read aloud in real formulas
17 ≡ 2 (mod 5)
Aethel says
17 is congruent to 2, mod 5
17 and 2 leave the same remainder when divided by 5
sin²θ + cos²θ ≡ 1
Aethel says
sin squared theta plus cos squared theta is equivalent to 1
true for every angle
Typing it
- LaTeX
- \equiv
- Unicode
- U+2261
Questions
How do you say ≡ out loud?
It is usually read “is identical to”, and also “is defined as” or “is congruent to”.
What does ≡ mean in maths?
Three bars mean more than equal: the two sides agree for every value (an identity), the left side is defined as the right, or, in number theory, two numbers leave the same remainder.
How do you type ≡?
In LaTeX, write \equiv. Its Unicode code point is U+2261.