Ampersand is the name of a symbol that is actively used in everyday life. Only not everyone knows what the corresponding sign looks like. What does he even mean? All of the ampersand will be explained below. This symbol had no name until the 19th century. And only in the middle of the corresponding century did he begin to appear in official English publications.
Definition
Ampersand is a certain symbol designating the Latin union et. A similar designation appeared a long time ago. Its inventor is considered to be Mark Tullius Tyrone, a student of Cicero.
Until the 19th century, the ampersand did not have an official name. All this time, the aforementioned symbol denoted the expression and per se and.
What is an ampersand? So they have designated and still denote the union of "and." The character being studied has several different meanings. The definition of the mark will vary depending on the area in which it is applied.
On the letter
The ampersand symbol in the letter is used very often. It, as you might guess, denotes the union of "and" (or English and).
The & sign can be seen in company names and various brands, as well as in regular offers. Most often, a symbol is either read as "end" or skipped altogether. For example, the name of the company is M & M's.
In computers
Ampersand is a sign that is found not only in writing, but also in various computer programs and applications. It has many purposes.
Here are examples to help you understand what & is for:
- In Excel, the corresponding character is used as a combination of text lines. In this case, MS Excel recognizes & as part of the code. To print the character under study in a cell, you need to use a double ampersand.
- In html, the & symbol stands for special characters. This is an extended table of unique text elements. For example, you can insert & # 169; into the text with html. If you process it, the copyright sign will appear on the screen.
- The ampersand sign in the Yandex search engine helps to search for information using advanced filters. If you type & between words, the search engine will display results in which the specified words are within the same sentence. If you put &&, the search engine will display pages that simply contain the phrases indicated in the search bar.
- In other search engines, the ampersand sign serves as a logical "and".
- In programming, & is often used as a particular operator. More detailed information on the use of this symbol will have to be studied for each programming language separately.
Some users use & when composing emoticons. This is not the most common option, but it also occurs.
Exact sciences
Ampersand is a unique sign that often denotes the union of "and." In the exact sciences, & is not so rare.
For example, in mathematics, it denotes a logical "and." This is a conjunction, a union. It is this definition that is considered true in the exact sciences.
Keyboard typing
Now that it’s clear that the ampersand is a special character used in writing in various fields, it is worth considering printing it. By hand & writing is not difficult. Computers are much more complicated.
The first way to print ampersand. It is necessary:
- Switch keyboard layout to English.
- Press Shift.
- While holding the corresponding button, press button 7 on the number line above the main alphabet.
- Release the keys.
After the done actions, the ampersand symbol will appear in the text editor. Similarly, the character is printed on the on-screen keyboard.
Special insert
In Word, you can use a feature called "custom paste." This is a fairly common method, especially if for some reason the ampersand cannot be delivered from the keyboard.
To set & you need:
- Open Word and set the print cursor to the desired position on the page.
- Go to the "Insert" - "Symbol ..." section.
- Find the & symbol in the window that appears and double-click on it.
It is done. You can find the ampersand in the Windows Symbol Table. To do this, you need to go to the "Start" - "All Programs" - "Standard" - "Utilities".
Help encoding
What is an ampersand? So called the designation of the union "and" or "logical and" in the exact sciences. The symbol is actively used in writing, including in electronic files and textbooks.
To insert & into your text document, you can use its Unicode or html encoding. There are various styles for writing a character. And so there is no single code for &.
For example, here are a few Unicode codes for printing a character you have learned:
- U + 0026 - the usual ampersand symbol, used most often;
- U + FE60 - small &;
- U + FF06 - extended ampersand.
A complete list of codes & with examples of its execution can be found in Unicode, ASCII or html directories.
Now it’s clear why the ampersand symbol is needed, as well as how to write it in a particular case. This is a common unique sign that can be printed using a special insert on a PC or from a keyboard.