Enter engineering math expressions from your keyboard

Updated 17 Sep 2025

Use the following keystrokes to enter specially formatted characters, Greek letters, symbols, or functions for the correct or incorrect answer boxes in the numeric value or symbolic expression answer type.

Students can enter similar keystrokes to answer these kinds of questions on a computer. Otherwise they can use the engineering toolbar options provided above the answer box for this answer type.

For this math format Type this from your keyboard What the student types
""

(subscript)

 _

(underbar)

 _

(underbar)
""

(exponent)

 ^ ^
x over y

(fraction)*

/

/

.

(decimal point)

 . .
( ) (parentheses) ( and ) ( and )
[ ] (square brackets) [ and ] [ and ]
{ } (curly brackets) { and } { and }
+ (plus sign)
+ +
- (minus sign)

(minus sign)

 - (hyphen) - (hyphen)

(multiplication dot)

 * (asterisk) * (asterisk)
""

(square root)

 

 sqrt \sqrt
""

(absolute value)

 abs |
""

(vector)

 i_evec \vec
""

(polar form complex number)

 cis cis
(x)*

(complex conjugate)

 conj conj

Although students must enter the backslash (\) character before these terms in their typed responses, you don't need to enter the backslash when working with symbolic answers for the numeric value or symbolic expression answer type in the Simple Editor.

For this letter Enter this from your keyboard
Greek character for alpha alpha
Greek character for beta beta
Greek character gamma gamma
Greek characters Delta, delta Delta, delta
Greek character epsilon epsilon
Greek character eta eta
Greek character theta theta
Greek character kappa kappa
Greek character lambda lambda
Greek character mu mu
Greek character nu nu
Greek character pi pi
Greek character rho rho
Greek characters Sigma, sigma Sigma, sigma
Greek character tau tau
Greek characters Phi, phi phi
Greek character chi chi
Greek characters Psi, psi Psi, psi
Greek characters Omega, omega Omega, omega
EMF symbol EMF
hbar symbol hbar

 

Note that functions are case sensitive.

By default, the arguments of trigonometric functions are in radians, not degrees. How to set the arguments to degrees for an item When the answer should be in degrees, be sure to specify this in the question instructions. (Otherwise, students may expect that they should be answering in radians.)

For this special function Enter this from your keyboard
What the student types
arccosine acos(x) arccos(x), acos(x), or cos^-1(x)
arccotangent acot(x) arccot(x), acot(x), or cot^-1(x)
arccosecant ascs(x) arcscs(x), ascs(x) or csc^-1(x)
arcsecant asec(x) arcsec(x), asec(x), or sec^-1(x)
arcsine asin(x) arcsin(x), asin(x), or sin^-1(x)
arctangent atan(x) arctan(x), atan(x), or tan^-1(x)
cosine cos(x) cos(x)
cotangent cot(x) cot(x)
cosecant csc(x) csc(x)
natural exponential function (e = 2.71828...) e^x or exp(x)

Note: Avoid using the numeric value or symbolic expression answer type for large positive or negative exponents, such as exp(37000) or exp(-37000). Currently Mastering doesn’t always evaluate large exponents correctly. Instead, use another answer type, such as multiple choice or multiselect.

 e^x or exp(x)
natural logarithm (base e) ln(x) ln(x)
common logarithm (base 10) log(x) log(x)
secant sec(x) sec(x)
sine sin(x) sin(x)
tangent tan(x) tan(x)

 

The following special functions are available in Mastering for authors, but are not needed by students.

For this special function Enter this from your keyboard
Purpose and example
ceiling ceil(value)

Purpose:
Rounds a value up to the nearest integer.

Example:
ceil(6.4) returns 7
floor floor(value)

Purpose:
Rounds a value down to the nearest integer.

Example: floor(8.6) returns 8
ifthenelse ifthenelse(test,true_value,false_value)

Purpose:
Returns one of two values, depending on the result of a logical test.

Example:
ifthenelse(x>y,x,y) returns x if x is larger; otherwise it returns y.
integer int(value)

Purpose:
Same as the floor function (rounds a value down to the nearest integer).

Example:
int(13.7) returns 13
random rand(range-start,range-end,exponent)

Purpose:
Generates a random number within a specified range, optionally rounded to a specific power of 10.

Example:
rand(10,100,1) randomly returns 10, 20, 30, ...100.
The default value for exponent is 0. That is, the value returned is rounded to the nearest integer.
round round(value, exponent)

Purpose:
Rounds a value to a specific power of 10.

Example:
round(1.2345,-3) returns 1.235
significant digits sigdig(value, exponent)

Purpose:
Rounds a value to a specific number of significant digits.

Example:
sigdig(1.2345,3) returns 1.23

 

To move the cursor within the answer: Use keyboard arrow keys (, , , ).