Note: Most programming languages require the user to use the hyphen-minus sign in place of a minus. If the minus sign is not available, I recommend to use the en-dash instead, compare “6 – 5” (en-dash) and “6 - 5” (hyphen-minus, too short). In practice, most computer users type the hyphen-minus in place of the minus sign, compare − 5 (minus sign) and - 5 (hyphen-minus).

As the name suggests, it is only used to mean the difference of two mathematical objects, usually numbers, e.g. The easiest one to deal with is the minus sign. Also, using the en-dash or the hyphen-minus instead of the minus sign is usually considered acceptable. Nevertheless, most modern processors and publishing platforms try to replace inappropriately positioned hyphens by the corresponding dashes automatically, which reduces the need to learn how to type them manually. Unfortunately, there’s no convenient way to type a hyphen or a minus sign using standard keyboard shortcuts. Where the number must be typed using the numeric keypad. It is possible to type at least the dashes as follows: The reason why the characters are not very popular among computer users suggests itself: They are not present on most computer keyboards. Most computer users use just a single character, “-”, the so-called hyphen-minus (the usual minus character you have on your keyboard), which is, technically, different from all four.Ī hyphen is usually very short (it has its own Unicode character, but you can use the hyphen-minus instead because it looks the same), a minus is of the same width as the decimal digits (and is sometimes a little bit higher than the others), an en-dash takes approximately the width of the letter “N” or “n”, and an em-dash takes approximately the same width as the letter “M” or “m”. These four little characters, “‐”, “−”, “–”, and “ -”, often get confused. It will teach you how to avoid mistakes with commas, prepositions, irregular verbs, and much more. Tip: See my list of the Most Common Mistakes in English.

Plus minus symbol word shortcut