TeXipedia

leftarrow

Displays a horizontal arrow pointing to the left, commonly used to indicate direction, implication, or mapping relationships.

Overview

Essential in mathematical notation and technical writing for expressing relationships, mappings, and logical flow.

  • Frequently used in set theory and abstract algebra to denote mappings between sets
  • Common in algorithm descriptions and flowcharts to show process direction
  • Appears in computer science for indicating assignment or return values
  • Often paired with \rightarrow to show bidirectional relationships or equivalence
  • Valuable in physics and engineering to indicate motion or transformation

Examples

Showing a logical implication from right to left.

qpq \leftarrow p
q \leftarrow p

Indicating a variable assignment in an algorithm.

x5x \leftarrow 5
x \leftarrow 5

Representing a limit approaching from the right.

limx3+f(x)\lim_{x \to 3^+ \leftarrow} f(x)
\lim_{x \to 3^+ \leftarrow} f(x)