Plus Minus Symbol (±)
Click the symbol to copy it, or type it yourself: Alt+0177 on Windows, Option+Shift+= on Mac. Codes for HTML, LaTeX, Word, and Excel are below.
Plus minus symbol alt code on Windows
The plus or minus symbol alt code is Alt+0177. The older Alt+241 usually works too, but both depend on your system's code page — if a different character appears, copy ± from this page instead.
- Click where the symbol should go.
- Hold Alt and type 0177 on the numeric keypad.
- Release Alt and ± appears.
Alt codes need a numeric keypad with Num Lock on. On a laptop without one, copying the symbol from this page is faster than fighting the Fn layer.
Plus minus symbol keyboard shortcut on Mac
To type the plus or minus symbol on a Mac, press Option+Shift+= (the plus/equals key). The shortcut works in any macOS text field with the standard US layout, so there is nothing to configure.
Plus minus sign on phone keyboards
On Gboard for Android, tap ?123, then =\<, and ± sits on that second symbols page. The default iPhone keyboard does not show ± on its symbol pages, so copy it from this page, or add a text replacement in Settings so typing +- expands to ±.
Plus minus symbol in Word, Excel, and Google Docs
To get the plus and minus symbol in Word, type 00B1 and press Alt+X, or use Insert → Symbol. In Excel on Windows, use Insert → Symbol, or the formula =CHAR(177). In Google Docs, open Insert → Special characters and search for plus minus.
Plus and minus signs: Unicode, HTML, and LaTeX codes
| Format | Code | Copy |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol | ± | |
| Unicode code point | U+00B1 | |
| HTML named entity | ± | |
| HTML decimal | ± | |
| HTML hexadecimal | ± | |
| CSS content | \00B1 | |
| LaTeX | \pm | |
| Windows Alt code | Alt+0177 | |
| Word shortcut | 00B1, Alt+X | |
| Excel formula | =CHAR(177) |
Plus minus symbol in LaTeX
In LaTeX, \pm produces the plus minus symbol in math mode, so $x = \pm 3$ renders as x = ±3. The reversed command \mp produces the minus plus sign ∓. Outside math mode, paste ± directly or load the textcomp package and use \textpm.
Plus and minus signs in mathematics
± reads as plus or minus. On an engineering drawing, 5 mm ± 0.1 mm means anything from 4.9 to 5.1 mm passes. In a poll, 52% ± 3 marks the margin of error. In algebra, x = ±3 collapses the two solutions of x² = 9 into one line. Chess annotators use ± too, where it means White holds a clear advantage.
Plus and minus symbol vs minus plus (∓)
∓ (Unicode U+2213, LaTeX \mp, HTML ∓) is the plus minus symbol flipped, and it only earns its keep next to ±. In cos(A ± B) = cos A cos B ∓ sin A sin B, the upper signs go together and the lower signs go together: choosing + on the left forces − on the right. If a formula only needs plus or minus once, ± is the sign you want.
When typed +/- beats the ± character
In source code, terminal output, CSV headers, and any field that might mangle Unicode, the three plain characters +/- survive where ± can break. The ± character is the better pick in documents, labels, and web pages, which handle Unicode text reliably.