# What is this weird math letter?

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Occasionally I would read a mathematics paper or book and see a strange calligraphic symbol that I have no idea how to pronounce.

Like here:

Or here:

This is a problem because I, as most other people, struggle to read what I can’t pronounce even when not reading aloud.

When you encounter a symbol like this (which belongs to a family of typefaces called formal scripts), just look it up in the table below, and you’ll know what letter it stands for.

 A $$\mathscr{A}$$ N $$\mathscr{N}$$ B $$\mathscr{B}$$ O $$\mathscr{O}$$ C $$\mathscr{C}$$ P $$\mathscr{P}$$ D $$\mathscr{D}$$ Q $$\mathscr{Q}$$ E $$\mathscr{E}$$ R $$\mathscr{R}$$ F $$\mathscr{F}$$ S $$\mathscr{S}$$ G $$\mathscr{G}$$ T $$\mathscr{T}$$ H $$\mathscr{H}$$ U $$\mathscr{U}$$ I $$\mathscr{I}$$ V $$\mathscr{V}$$ J $$\mathscr{J}$$ W $$\mathscr{W}$$ K $$\mathscr{K}$$ X $$\mathscr{X}$$ L $$\mathscr{L}$$ Y $$\mathscr{Y}$$ M $$\mathscr{M}$$ Z $$\mathscr{Z}$$

Alternatively, use the excellent Detexify tool:

The formal script typeface is available in LaTeX using the \mathscr command from the mathrsfs package:

\usepackage{mathrsfs}

$\mathscr{Q}$