Symbols:Brackets/Vinculum

Symbol

A vinculum is a line drawn over terms in parenthesis:

$\overline {a + b}$

The $\LaTeX$ code for \(\overline {a + b}\) is \overline {a + b} .

Examples

Square Root

Consider the square root symbol used in this context:

$\sqrt {25 - 9}$

The bar over the $25 - 9$ is an example of a vinculum.

The expression can also be written:

$\map \surd {25 - 9}$

Hence the expression equates to $\surd 16 = 4$.

Note that this is not the same as $\surd 25 - 9$ which equals $-4$.

Sources

• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): aggregation
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): aggregation