What is the meaning of the symbol $lesssim$?












2














I have encountered a symbol I do not understand the meaning of. I've searched tables online but to no avail.



picture in this link



The picture in this link (not enough points to embed yet) shows the symbol twice; 'masses $gtrsim$ $10^{16}$ g' and 'energies $gtrsim$ $10^{32}$ ergs'. What is the meaning of this symbol?










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  • I'm pretty sure that this means less than or similar to, like less than or equal to but more vague.
    – Kyky
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:56










  • I assume it's a mix of < and . Is there a way to make sure this is the actual use case, or are there other definitions that can apply as well?
    – allthemikeysaretaken
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:59










  • If the author just throws it there, without having defined it at some prior point, then It is simply bad notation. From what I can see in the link, it means "more than or at the order of magnitude of", but the more clear $approx$ (approximately) or $ge$ (more than or equal to) would perfectly do the job, so its just bad notation. I have seen it in the completely different context as $Alesssim B$ or $Apreceq B$ meaning "$A$ is less preferred than B", where it is a perfectly valid notation, but this has nothing to do with the text at hand.
    – Jimmy R.
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:02








  • 2




    Being a physics paper my guess is it's a statement about orders of magnitude.
    – dbx
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:03










  • Yup, physicist love to describe things by "order of magnitude".
    – JonathanZ
    Nov 19 '18 at 5:09
















2














I have encountered a symbol I do not understand the meaning of. I've searched tables online but to no avail.



picture in this link



The picture in this link (not enough points to embed yet) shows the symbol twice; 'masses $gtrsim$ $10^{16}$ g' and 'energies $gtrsim$ $10^{32}$ ergs'. What is the meaning of this symbol?










share|cite|improve this question
























  • I'm pretty sure that this means less than or similar to, like less than or equal to but more vague.
    – Kyky
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:56










  • I assume it's a mix of < and . Is there a way to make sure this is the actual use case, or are there other definitions that can apply as well?
    – allthemikeysaretaken
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:59










  • If the author just throws it there, without having defined it at some prior point, then It is simply bad notation. From what I can see in the link, it means "more than or at the order of magnitude of", but the more clear $approx$ (approximately) or $ge$ (more than or equal to) would perfectly do the job, so its just bad notation. I have seen it in the completely different context as $Alesssim B$ or $Apreceq B$ meaning "$A$ is less preferred than B", where it is a perfectly valid notation, but this has nothing to do with the text at hand.
    – Jimmy R.
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:02








  • 2




    Being a physics paper my guess is it's a statement about orders of magnitude.
    – dbx
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:03










  • Yup, physicist love to describe things by "order of magnitude".
    – JonathanZ
    Nov 19 '18 at 5:09














2












2








2







I have encountered a symbol I do not understand the meaning of. I've searched tables online but to no avail.



picture in this link



The picture in this link (not enough points to embed yet) shows the symbol twice; 'masses $gtrsim$ $10^{16}$ g' and 'energies $gtrsim$ $10^{32}$ ergs'. What is the meaning of this symbol?










share|cite|improve this question















I have encountered a symbol I do not understand the meaning of. I've searched tables online but to no avail.



picture in this link



The picture in this link (not enough points to embed yet) shows the symbol twice; 'masses $gtrsim$ $10^{16}$ g' and 'energies $gtrsim$ $10^{32}$ ergs'. What is the meaning of this symbol?







definition relations






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited Nov 21 '18 at 7:29









Graham Kemp

84.7k43378




84.7k43378










asked Nov 19 '18 at 3:48









allthemikeysaretaken

113




113












  • I'm pretty sure that this means less than or similar to, like less than or equal to but more vague.
    – Kyky
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:56










  • I assume it's a mix of < and . Is there a way to make sure this is the actual use case, or are there other definitions that can apply as well?
    – allthemikeysaretaken
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:59










  • If the author just throws it there, without having defined it at some prior point, then It is simply bad notation. From what I can see in the link, it means "more than or at the order of magnitude of", but the more clear $approx$ (approximately) or $ge$ (more than or equal to) would perfectly do the job, so its just bad notation. I have seen it in the completely different context as $Alesssim B$ or $Apreceq B$ meaning "$A$ is less preferred than B", where it is a perfectly valid notation, but this has nothing to do with the text at hand.
    – Jimmy R.
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:02








  • 2




    Being a physics paper my guess is it's a statement about orders of magnitude.
    – dbx
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:03










  • Yup, physicist love to describe things by "order of magnitude".
    – JonathanZ
    Nov 19 '18 at 5:09


















  • I'm pretty sure that this means less than or similar to, like less than or equal to but more vague.
    – Kyky
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:56










  • I assume it's a mix of < and . Is there a way to make sure this is the actual use case, or are there other definitions that can apply as well?
    – allthemikeysaretaken
    Nov 19 '18 at 3:59










  • If the author just throws it there, without having defined it at some prior point, then It is simply bad notation. From what I can see in the link, it means "more than or at the order of magnitude of", but the more clear $approx$ (approximately) or $ge$ (more than or equal to) would perfectly do the job, so its just bad notation. I have seen it in the completely different context as $Alesssim B$ or $Apreceq B$ meaning "$A$ is less preferred than B", where it is a perfectly valid notation, but this has nothing to do with the text at hand.
    – Jimmy R.
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:02








  • 2




    Being a physics paper my guess is it's a statement about orders of magnitude.
    – dbx
    Nov 19 '18 at 4:03










  • Yup, physicist love to describe things by "order of magnitude".
    – JonathanZ
    Nov 19 '18 at 5:09
















I'm pretty sure that this means less than or similar to, like less than or equal to but more vague.
– Kyky
Nov 19 '18 at 3:56




I'm pretty sure that this means less than or similar to, like less than or equal to but more vague.
– Kyky
Nov 19 '18 at 3:56












I assume it's a mix of < and . Is there a way to make sure this is the actual use case, or are there other definitions that can apply as well?
– allthemikeysaretaken
Nov 19 '18 at 3:59




I assume it's a mix of < and . Is there a way to make sure this is the actual use case, or are there other definitions that can apply as well?
– allthemikeysaretaken
Nov 19 '18 at 3:59












If the author just throws it there, without having defined it at some prior point, then It is simply bad notation. From what I can see in the link, it means "more than or at the order of magnitude of", but the more clear $approx$ (approximately) or $ge$ (more than or equal to) would perfectly do the job, so its just bad notation. I have seen it in the completely different context as $Alesssim B$ or $Apreceq B$ meaning "$A$ is less preferred than B", where it is a perfectly valid notation, but this has nothing to do with the text at hand.
– Jimmy R.
Nov 19 '18 at 4:02






If the author just throws it there, without having defined it at some prior point, then It is simply bad notation. From what I can see in the link, it means "more than or at the order of magnitude of", but the more clear $approx$ (approximately) or $ge$ (more than or equal to) would perfectly do the job, so its just bad notation. I have seen it in the completely different context as $Alesssim B$ or $Apreceq B$ meaning "$A$ is less preferred than B", where it is a perfectly valid notation, but this has nothing to do with the text at hand.
– Jimmy R.
Nov 19 '18 at 4:02






2




2




Being a physics paper my guess is it's a statement about orders of magnitude.
– dbx
Nov 19 '18 at 4:03




Being a physics paper my guess is it's a statement about orders of magnitude.
– dbx
Nov 19 '18 at 4:03












Yup, physicist love to describe things by "order of magnitude".
– JonathanZ
Nov 19 '18 at 5:09




Yup, physicist love to describe things by "order of magnitude".
– JonathanZ
Nov 19 '18 at 5:09















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