What 𝑝 means
It marks a variable; the formula gives it meaning. Read it as the Latin p in a mathematical formula. The equation sets its exact role or value; different writers can use p for different quantities. In conventional notation, italic single letters mark variables. Put side by side, variables usually mean multiplication or another composition, not a word.
This p is the ordinary Latin letter in mathematical italic, not a new alphabet. In 1999, a Unicode proposal (Unicode is the shared system for identifying text characters) described styled alphabets as already routine in mathematical and technical writing. Encoding the styles as separate characters let plain text keep those distinctions. MathML, a format for marking up formulas, can express the same form with ordinary p plus an italic math-style instruction.
Part of the collection
Don't confuse it with
1
Combination ideas
1Questions people ask
1Why does 𝑝 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
More like this
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How to type or find 𝑝
- Search it as
- math italic p · italic p · unicode p · 𝑝
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𝑝\1D45DCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.