TeXipedia

colonapprox

Represents a relation indicating approximate equality or correspondence, denoted by a colon followed by an approximation symbol.

Overview

Commonly used in mathematical notation to express approximate relationships or mappings between sets, functions, or values. This symbol combines the semantic meaning of both a colon (often indicating correspondence or mapping) and approximation.

  • Appears in advanced mathematics when describing approximate mappings or correspondences
  • Useful in theoretical computer science and category theory for expressing approximate relationships
  • Often encountered in formal mathematical proofs and abstract algebra contexts

Examples

Defining a function by approximation

f(x):≈x2+2x+1f(x) \colonapprox x^2 + 2x + 1 
f(x) \colonapprox x^2 + 2x + 1

Approximating a sequence limit

an:≈nn+1a_n \colonapprox \frac{n}{n+1} 
a_n \colonapprox \frac{n}{n+1}

Statistical approximation of a parameter

θ:≈0.95±0.02\theta \colonapprox 0.95 \pm 0.02 
\theta \colonapprox 0.95 \pm 0.02