Degree symbol

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Degree symbol

The degree symbol (°, Unicode

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
: U+00B0, HTML

HTML

HTML, an Acronym and initialism of HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for Web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document?by denoting certain text as links, headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on?and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded '...
: °) is a typographical symbol, or glyph

Glyph

A glyph is an element of writing. Two or more glyphs representing the same symbol, whether interchangeable or context-dependent, are called allographs; the abstract unit they are variants of is called a grapheme or character ....
, that is used to represent degrees of arc

Degree (angle)

A degree , usually denoted by ? , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1/360 of a Turn ; one degree is equivalent to p/180 radians....
(see Geographic coordinate system

Geographic coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates, using mainly a Spherical coordinates#Spherical coordinates....
) or temperature

Degree (temperature)

The term degree is used in several scale of temperature. The symbol ? is usually used, followed by the initial letter of the unit, for example ??C? for degree Celsius....
.

Especially in the biological and medical fields, 1°, 2°, and 3° are common abbreviations for primary, secondary, and tertiary (but this is actually the "masculine ordinal indicator

Ordinal indicator

In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a sign adjacent to a numeral denoting that it is an Ordinal number , rather than a Names of numbers in English#Cardinal numbers....
" not a degree symbol). In medical shorthand, the degree symbol is also used to denote hours, for instance q4° or q4° meaning "every four hours."

Since at least the age of desktop publishing

Desktop publishing

Desktop publishing combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either Publishing or small scale local Multifunction printer output and distribution....
, personal computers have been able to produce the degree symbol.

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Encyclopedia

The degree symbol (°, Unicode

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
: U+00B0, HTML

HTML

Glyph

Degree (angle)

A degree , usually denoted by ? , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1/360 of a Turn ; one degree is equivalent to p/180 radians....
(see Geographic coordinate system

Geographic coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates, using mainly a Spherical coordinates#Spherical coordinates....
) or temperature

Degree (temperature)

Ordinal indicator

Desktop publishing

Typography

The degree symbol was originally an ancient symbol representing the Sun

Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
.

Degrees of arc

In the case of degrees of arc, the degree symbol follows the number without intervening any space.

Temperatures

Degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit

In contrast to expressing degrees of arc, in the case of degrees of temperature, two scientific and engineering standards bodies (BIPM

International Bureau of Weights and Measures

File:Metric seal.svgThe International Bureau of Weights and Measures , is an international standards organization, one of three such organizations established to maintain the International System of Units under the terms of the Metre Convention ....
and the U.S. Government Printing Office) prescribe printing temperatures with a space between the number and the degree symbol, as in 10 °C. However, in many professionally typeset works, including scientific works published by the University of Chicago Press

University of Chicago Press

The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of advanced monographs in the academic field...
or Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is a publisher and a department of the University of Oxford in England. It is the largest university press in the world, being larger than all the American university presses combined with Cambridge University Press....
, the degree symbol is printed with no spaces between the number, the symbol, and the C or F representing Celsius

Celsius

Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death....
or Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit , who proposed it in 1724. Today, the scale has largely been replaced by the Celsius scale; it is still in use for non-scientific purposes in the United States and a few other countries such as Belize....
, as in 10°C. This is also the practice of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which operates the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Others put a space between the degree symbol and the letter (10° C), which is probably no longer recommended by any of the major style guides.

Kelvin

Use of the degree symbol to refer to temperatures measured in kelvin

Kelvin

The kelvin is a Units of measurement of temperature and is one of the seven SI base units. The Kelvin scale is a Thermodynamic temperature scale where absolute zero, the theoretical absence of all thermal energy, is zero ....
s (symbol: K) was abolished in 1967 by the 13th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM). Therefore, the freezing point of water, for instance, is today correctly written as simply 273.15 K. The SI fundamental temperature unit is now "kelvin" (note the lower case), and no longer "degree Kelvin".

Music

The degree symbol is used in writing about music to indicate a diminished chord

Diminished chord

A diminished triad chord is a Triad consisting of a minor third and a diminished fifth above the Root ? if built on C, a diminished chord would have a C, an E and a G....
.

Input

See Alt code and Unicode, section "Input methods"
Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
for general information on entering characters like this. The Unicode code point is U+00B0 (176 decimal), and the code point in CP437 etc is 0xF8 (248 decimal).
On many Mac keyboard layouts, the character can be found on OptionOption key The 'Option key' is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. It is located between the Control key and Command key on a typical Mac keyboard. For desktop keyboards, there are usually two, while a laptop may have only one to make room for the arrow keys....+Shift+8.
The HTML entity °.
On Linux and other Unix-like
Unix-like

A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
systems, many keyboard layout
Keyboard layout

A keyboard layout is any specific mechanical, visual, or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key?meaning associations of a Computer keyboard, typewriter, or other alphanumeric keyboard keyboard....
s allow typing the degree sign with AltGr
AltGr key

AltGr is a modifier key on Personal computer Computer keyboards used to type many characters, primarily ones that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as currency symbols and accented letters....
+Shift+0. Others allow typing it with the “multi-key” or “compose” key, as Compose o o.
On Windows PCs, you can type in alt+0176 to make it appear.
In LaTeX
LaTeX

LaTeX is a document markup language and Word processor for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as ....
, one writes the degree symbol as ^ in math mode. In other words, it is written as the empty circle glyph \circ as a superscript.

Due to a similar appearance in some font

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is a set of one or more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs....
s in print and on computer screens, some other characters may be mistakenly substituted for it: the "masculine ordinal indicator

Ordinal indicator

In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a sign adjacent to a numeral denoting that it is an Ordinal number , rather than a Names of numbers in English#Cardinal numbers....
" (U+00BA, º ), the "ring above" (U+02DA, ° , which appears on a Mac keyboard layout at Option+K), "superscript zero" (U+2070, ° ), superscript zero proper ( ⁰ ) or superscript letter "o" ( ^o ), and the "ring operator" (U+2218, ° ).