Is there a way to put a plus minus sign in an answer?

1 Answer
Sep 22, 2015

Do you mean a minus-plus sign?

Explanation:

Since you already know how to write a plus-minus sign, #+-#, I assume that you're referring to the minus-plus sign, which looks like this

http://www.i2symbol.com/symbols/math/x2213-minus-or-plus-sign

From what I can tell, you can't really write this symbol in the editor.

Classic MathJax has the functions \pm for the plus minus sign which works here as well

  • without the hashtags

\pm2

  • with the hashtags

#\pm2#

and \mp for the minus plus sign, which does not work in the editor

  • without the hashtags

\mp2

  • with the hashtags

#\mp2#

However, you can improvise a little by using the stackrel()() function, which allows you to stack symbols or characters (text) on top of each other.

For example, you can write

  • without the hashtags

stackrel("---")(+)

  • with the hashtags

#stackrel("---")(+)#

It's not perfect, but it does the job :D.

ADDENDUM

I found a better way of writing the minus plus sign

  • without the hashtags

stackrel(_)(+)

  • with the hashtags

#stackrel(_)(+)#

I personally think the first option looks better

#stackrel("---")(+)2" "color(green)(sqrt()) " "# versus #" "color(red)(cancel(color(black)(stackrel(_)(+)2)))#

ADDENDUM II

Here's another way of writing the minus plus sign--this one is brought to you by Ernest Z.

The plus-minus sign is Unicode character 2213, so you can write in MS Word first by using writing 2213 followed by ALT + X.

Simply copy/paste the sign to the editor. It will look like this

  • without the hashtags

∓2

  • with the hashtags

#∓2#

I think we may have found the best version

#stackrel("---")(+)2 " "# #" "color(green)(ul(color(black)(∓2))) " "color(green)(sqrt()#

ADDENDUM III

Here's yet another way of writing the minus-plus sign, this time brought to you by NickTheTurtle!

  • without hashtags

bar("+")2

  • with hashtags

#bar("+")2#

I think that this version gets the job done + it has the added bonus of being easier to add to the answer!

#stackrel("---")(+)2 " "# #" "∓2 " "# #" "bar("+")2#