Infinity symbol - wikipedia Infinity symbol The ∞ symbol in several typefaces The infinity symbol ∞ ( sometimes called the lemniscate ) is a mathematical symbol representing the concept of infinity. Contents 1 History 2 Usage 3 Modern symbolism 4 Graphic design 5 Encoding 6 See also 7 References History John Wallis introduced the infinity symbol to mathematical literature. The shape of a sideways figure eight has a long pedigree ; for instance, it appears in the cross of Saint Boniface, wrapped around the bars of a Latin cross. However, John Wallis is credited with introducing the infinity symbol with its mathematical meaning in 1655, in his De sectionibus conicis. Wallis did not explain his choice of this symbol, but it has been conjectured to be a variant form of a Roman numeral for 1,000 ( originally CIƆ, also CƆ ), which was sometimes used to mean `` many '', or of the Greek letter ω ( omega ), the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Symbol used by Euler to denote infinity Leonhard Euler used an open variant of the symbol in order to denote `` absolutus infinitus ''. Euler freely performed various operations on infinity, such as taking its logarithm. This symbol is not used anymore, and is not encoded as a separate character in Unicode. Usage In mathematics, the infinity symbol is used more often to represent a potential infinity, rather than to represent an actually infinite quantity such as the ordinal numbers and cardinal numbers ( which use other notations ). For instance, in the mathematical notation for summations and limits such as ∑ i = 0 ∞ 1 2 i = lim x → ∞ 2 x − 1 2 x − 1 = 2, ( displaystyle sum _ ( i = 0 ) ^ ( infty ) ( \frac ( 1 ) ( 2 ^ ( i ) ) ) = lim _ ( x \to infty ) ( \frac ( 2 ^ ( x ) - 1 ) ( 2 ^ ( x-1 ) ) ) = 2, ) the infinity sign is conventionally interpreted as meaning that the variable grows arbitrarily large ( towards infinity ) rather than actually taking an infinite value. In areas other than mathematics, the infinity symbol may take on other related meanings ; for instance, it has been used in bookbinding to indicate that a book is printed on acid - free paper and will therefore be long - lasting. Modern symbolism The infinity symbol appears on several cards of the Rider -- Waite tarot deck In modern mysticism, the infinity symbol has become identified with a variation of the ouroboros, an ancient image of a snake eating its own tail that has also come to symbolize the infinite, and the ouroboros is sometimes drawn in figure - eight form to reflect this identification, rather than in its more traditional circular form. In the works of Vladimir Nabokov, including The Gift and Pale Fire, the figure - eight shape is used symbolically to refer to the Möbius strip and the infinite, for instance in these books ' descriptions of the shapes of bicycle tire tracks and of the outlines of half - remembered people. The poem after which Pale Fire is entitled explicitly refers to `` the miracle of the lemniscate ''. Graphic design The well known shape and meaning of the infinity symbol have made it a common typographic element of graphic design. For instance, the Métis flag, used by the Canadian Métis people in the early 19th century, is based around this symbol. In modern commerce, corporate logos featuring this symbol have been used by, among others, Room for PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Visual Studio, Fujitsu, and CoorsTek. Encoding The symbol is encoded in Unicode at U + 221E ∞ infinity and in LaTeX as infty : ∞ ( displaystyle infty ). The Unicode set of symbols also includes several variant forms of the infinity symbol, that are less frequently available in fonts : U + 29DC ⧜ INCOMPLETE INFINITY ( HTML & # 10716 ; ISOtech entity ⧜ ), U + 29DD ⧝ TIE OVER INFINITY ( HTML & # 10717 ; ) and U + 29DE ⧞ INFINITY NEGATED WITH VERTICAL BAR ( HTML & # 10718 ; ) in block Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols - B. The acid - free paper symbol mentioned above is encoded separately as U + 267E ♾ PERMANENT PAPER SIGN ( HTML & # 9854 ; ). See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Infinity. History of mathematical notation References ^ Jump up to : Barrow, John D. ( 2008 ), `` Infinity : Where God Divides by Zero '', Cosmic Imagery : Key Images in the History of Science, W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 339 -- 340, ISBN 9780393061772 Jump up ^ De sectionibus conicis nova methodo expositis tractatus - John Wallis - Google Boeken. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013 - 12 - 01. See e.g. Prop. 1, p. 4. Jump up ^ Scott, Joseph Frederick ( 1981 ), The mathematical work of John Wallis, D.D., F.R.S., ( 1616 - 1703 ) ( 2 ed. ), American Mathematical Society, p. 24, ISBN 0 - 8284 - 0314 - 7 Jump up ^ Martin - Löf, Per ( 1990 ), `` Mathematics of infinity '', COLOG - 88 ( Tallinn, 1988 ), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 417, Berlin : Springer, pp. 146 -- 197, MR 1064143, doi : 10.1007 / 3 - 540 - 52335 - 9_54 Jump up ^ Clegg, Brian ( 2003 ), A brief history of infinity : the quest to think the unthinkable, Robinson, ISBN 9781841196503 Jump up ^ See for instance Cor. 1 p. 174 in : Leonhard Euler. Variae observationes circa series infinitas. Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae 9, 1744, pp. 160 - 188. ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Zboray, Ronald J. ; Zboray, Mary Saracino ( 2000 ), A handbook for the study of book history in the United States, Center for the Book, Library of Congress, p. 49, ISBN 9780844410159 Jump up ^ O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger ( 1986 ), Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities, University of Chicago Press, p. 243, ISBN 9780226618555. The book also features this image on its cover. Jump up ^ Toker, Leona ( 1989 ), Nabokov : The Mystery of Literary Structures, Cornell University Press, p. 159, ISBN 9780801422119 Jump up ^ Healy, Donald T. ; Orenski, Peter J. ( 2003 ), Native American Flags, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 284, ISBN 9780806135564 Jump up ^ `` Unicode chart ( pdf ) '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 2013 - 12 - 01. Infinity ( ∞ ) History Controversy over Cantor 's theory Branches of mathematics Internal set theory Non-standard analysis Set theory Synthetic differential geometry Formalizations of infinity Cardinal numbers Hyperreal numbers Infinity + 1 Ordinal numbers Surreal numbers Transfinite numbers Infinitesimal Mathematicians Georg Cantor Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Abraham Robinson Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Infinity_symbol&oldid=799253726 '' Categories : Mathematical symbols Infinity Hidden categories : Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Boarisch Deutsch Español Français 한국어 Հայերեն 日本 語 Русский Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 6 September 2017, at 16 : 13. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: what is the origin of the infinity symbol
Answer: John Wallis is credited with introducing the infinity symbol with its mathematical meaning in 1655, in his De sectionibus conicis