wxMaxima provides a method of entering special symbols using the keyboard:

• A special symbol can be entered by pressing the ESC key and then starting to type the symbol character’s name.
• Alternatively it can be entered by pressing ESC, one letter (or two for the Greek symbol omicron) and ESC again.

In this case the following symbols are supported:

Greek characters

Lower case

Greek letter	Key to press	Symbol
alpha	a	α
beta	b	β
gamma	g	γ
delta	d	δ
epsilon	e	ε
zeta	z	ζ
eta	h	η
theta	q	θ
iota	i	ι
kappa	k	κ
lambda	l	λ
mu	m	μ
nu	n	ν
xi	x	ξ
omicron	om	o
pi	pi	π
rho	r	ρ
sigma	s	σ
tau	t	τ
upsilon	u	υ
phi	f	φ
chi	c	χ
psi	y	ψ
omega	o	ω

Upper case

Greek letter	Key to press	Symbol
Alpha	A	A
Beta	B	B
Gamma	G	Γ
Delta	D	∆
Epsilon	E	E
Zeta	Z	Z
Eta	H	H
Theta	T	Θ
Iota	I	I
Kappa	K	K
Lambda	L	Λ
Mu	M	M
Nu	N	N
Xi	X	Ξ
Omicron	Om	o
Pi	P	Π
Rho	R	P
Sigma	S	Σ
Tau	T	T
Upsilon	U	Υ
Phi	P	Φ
Chi	C	X
Psi	Y	Ψ
Omega	O	Ω

Mathematical Symbols

Keys to press	Symbol	Symbol description
!=	≠	not equal to
#	≠	not equal to
/=	≠	not equal to
/2	½	1/2
+/-	±	a plus/minus sign
<<	≪	much less than
<=	≤	equal or less than
->	→	a right arrow
-->	⟶	a long right arrow
>=	≥	equal or greater than
>>	≫	much greater than
2		squared
3		to the power of three
and	⋀	and
approx	≅	approximately
ee	ⅇ	element
empty	∅	empty
equiv	⇔	equivalent to
exists	∃	there exists sign
geq	≥	qual or greater than
gg	≫	much greater than
hb	ℏ	Planck’s constant: a h with a horizontal bar above it
Hbar	Ħ	a H with a horizontal bar above it
ii	ⅈ	imaginary
impl	⇒	implies
implies	⇒	implies
in	∈	in
inf	∞	infinity
integral	∫	integral sign
inter	⋂	intersection
leadsto	↝	a leads to sign
leq	≤	equal or less than
ll	≪	much less than
nabla	∇	a nabla operator
nand	⊼	nand
neq	≠	not equal to
nexists	∄	there is no sign
nor	⊽	nor
not	¬	not
notsubset	⊄	not subset
notsubseteq	⊈	not subset or equal
or	⋁	or
parallel	∥	a parallel sign
partial	∂	partial sign (the d of dx/dt)
perp	⟂	a perpendicular sign
perpendicular	⟂	a perpendicular sign
pm	±	a plus/minus sign
prod	∏	product sign
product	∏	product sign
propto	∝	proportional to
qed	∎	end of proof
sq	√	square root
subset	⊂	subset
subseteq	⊆	subset or equal
sum	∑	sum sign
TB	▶	big triangle right
tb	▸	small triangle right
union	⋃	union
xor	⊻	xor

Unicode characters

If a special symbol isn’t in the list it is possible to input arbitrary Unicode characters by pressing ESC [number of the character (hexadecimal)] ESC.

ESC 61 ESC therefore results in an a.

Note

Please note that most of these symbols (notable exceptions are the logic symbols) do not have a special meaning in Maxima and therefore will be interpreted as ordinary characters. If Maxima is compiled using a Lisp that doesn’t support dealing with Unicode characters they might cause an error message instead.