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The keyboard character and the mathematical one are different characters that look the same.
The tilde on a keyboard is a punctuation mark and a diacritic, encoded at U+007E. The mathematical tilde operator is a separate character at U+223C, drawn a little longer and set at a different height. Mathematical text typed with the keyboard character is technically the wrong character and is universally understood, which is why almost everybody does it — and why a typeset paper and a forum post render the same statement slightly differently.
One is a punctuation mark and diacritic; the other is a mathematical operator with its own code point.
Drawn from the visual attributes recorded for each symbol. Only traits the two records disagree about are listed.
| Trait | Tilde | Tilde operator |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | lines and dots, abstract | lines and dots |
| Tilde | Tilde operator | |
|---|---|---|
| Code point | U+007E | U+223C |
| Job | Punctuation, a diacritic, and a stand-in in computing | A mathematical relation |
| On a keyboard | Yes | No — needs a character shortcut |
| Rendering | Set high, short | Set on the mathematical axis, longer |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Tilde operator — One is a punctuation mark and diacritic; the other is a mathematical operator with its own code point. | Commonly confused with Tilde — One is a mathematical operator and the other is a punctuation mark and diacritic; Unicode encodes them separately. |
Unicode Code Chart: Basic Latin (U+0000–U+007F)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-07-30
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in use.
Unicode Code Chart: Mathematical Operators (U+2200–U+22FF)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-07-30
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in use.
One wave is the tilde operator: asymptotic equivalence in analysis, similarity in geometry, and 'is distributed as' in statistics, decided by what sits either side of it. Two stacked waves is approximation. In handwriting the difference disappears entirely, which is why a reader who learnt the double form first tends to treat a single wave as a careless version of it — exactly backwards, since they are separate operators with separate meanings.
Both are drawn as one continuous decorative stroke with a closed loop and a tail that crosses back over itself, which is why a description of the shape alone reaches both. The clef is far taller, spans a stave, and its spiral encircles one specific line — that encircled line is the note G, and it is the only reason the shape is drawn where it is.
The ampersand is a ligature of the Latin word et, still visible in some italic forms where the e and the t can be picked out. The Tironian et is a separate mark descending from a Roman shorthand, shaped like a small seven, and it is in daily public use in Ireland as the written form of 'agus'. A reader who knows only the ampersand takes the other for a numeral, which on a bilingual road sign produces a confidently wrong place name.
As punctuation the asterisk points at a footnote or marks a required field. In a filename pattern typed at a shell it matches any run of characters, including none — and the shell expands it against real filenames before the command runs, so the command never sees the pattern at all. That expansion is the part people are surprised by.