Symbols:General/Ellipsis

Ellipsis

 * $\ldots$ or $\cdots$

An ellipsis is used to indicate that there are omitted elements in a set or a sequence whose presence need to be inferred by the reader.

For example:
 * $1, 2, \ldots, 10$

is to be understood as meaning:
 * $1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10$

There are two forms of the horizontal ellipsis, one on the writing line which is to be used for punctuation separated lists:
 * $a, b, \ldots, z$

and one centrally placed in the line, to be used in other circumstances, for example, in expressions assembled using arithmetic operations:
 * $a + b + \cdots + k$

There also exist vertically and diagonally arranged ellipses, for use in the structure of matrices:


 * $\begin{array}{c}

a \\ \vdots \\ b \end{array} \qquad \begin{array}{c} a \\ & \ddots \\ & & b \end{array}$

Linguistic Note
The plural of ellipsis is ellipses.

This is pronounced ell-ip-seez, where the final syllable is long.

Do not confuse with the plural of ellipse, which is spelt the same but is pronounced ell-ip-siz.

Also see

 * Definition:Summation
 * Definition:Iterated Operation