# Symbol request for a mysterious symbol

Is there a symbol that looks like the element sign $\in$ but instead of being curved, looks more like a less than sign $<$? I have trawled through hundreds of symbols and tried detexify.

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Is it like an arrow then? Where did you see it? – hpesoj626 Dec 8 '12 at 7:28
You can always draw the symbol in something like MS Paint, and include an image of it, even if you don't have enough reputation. See/read How can I upload an image to be included in a question or answer? – Werner Dec 8 '12 at 7:39
Is it an operator (like +) or a relation (like <)? – yo' Dec 8 '12 at 8:01
Welcome to TeX.SX – Harish Kumar Dec 8 '12 at 9:23
this is a relation, at unicode U+2AAA, meaning "smaller than"; the reverse, "larger than", is at unicode U+2AAB. there are also "or equal to" forms. all in the xits and stix fonts. – barbara beeton Dec 8 '12 at 14:16

Is it like this?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
%
\newcommand{\myinleft}{%
\ensuremath{{\mathrlap{<}-}}}
%
\newcommand{\myinright}{%
\ensuremath{{\mathrlap{>}-}}}

\begin{document}
$\myinleft$ $\myinright$
\end{document}

If it is a relation symbol as doubted by Tochecz (through his crystal ball ;-)), it is better to use mathrel:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
%
\newcommand{\myinleft}{%
\mathrel{{{\mathrlap{<}-}}}}%
%
\newcommand{\myinright}{%
\mathrel{{\mathrlap{>}-}}}

\begin{document}
$x\myinleft c \myinright d$
\end{document}

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I suppose it is a relation, so maybe you can tell it to LaTeX by \mathrel{...}, because now it sees the -, which is an operator... – yo' Dec 8 '12 at 8:02
@tohecz Your crystal ball is very well polished ;-) You may be right. Answer updated and thank you. :-) – Harish Kumar Dec 8 '12 at 8:14
+1 very nice :) – cmhughes Dec 8 '12 at 16:01

The symbol is the Unicode symbol U+2AAA SMALLER THAN, part of section "Supplemental Mathematical Operators". This symbol and related symbols:

• ⪪: U+2AAA SMALLER THAN
• ⪫: U+2AAB LARGER THAN
• ⪬: U+2AAC SMALLER THAN OR EQUAL TO
• ⪭: U+2AAD LARGER THAN OR EQUAL TO

The OpenType math fonts "Asana Math" and "XITSMath" contain these symbols and can be used with LuaTeX/XeTeX and package unicode-math:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmathfont{Asana-Math.otf}

\begin{document}
$a ⪪ b ⪫ c ^{a ⪪ b ⪫ c ^{a ⪪ b ⪫ c}}$
$a ⪬ b ⪭ c ^{a ⪬ b ⪭ c ^{a ⪬ b ⪭ c}}$
\end{document}

\setmathfont{xits-math.otf}

Unhappily "Latin Modern Math" does not contain these symbols. But the symbols can also be constructed by overlapping the minus sign with the relational symbols. This also works for the other TeX variants: The naming of the symbols is taken from package unicode-math:

\documentclass{article}

\makeatletter
\providecommand*{\smt}{\mathpalette\@smtlat{<}}
\providecommand*{\lat}{\mathpalette\@smtlat{>}}
\providecommand*{\smte}{\mathpalette\@smtlate{\leq}}
\providecommand*{\late}{\mathpalette\@smtlate{\geq}}

\newcommand*{\@smtlat}[2]{%
\mathrel{%
\sbox0{$\m@th#1-$}%
\rlap{\copy0}%
{#2}%
}%
}
\newcommand*{\@smtlate}[2]{%
\mathrel{%
\sbox0{$\m@th#1-$}%
\sbox2{$\m@th#1#2$}%
\sbox4{$\m@th#1<$}%
\rlap{\raise\dimexpr\ht2-\ht4\copy0}%
{#2}%
}%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
$a \smt b \lat c ^{a \smt b \lat c ^{a \smt b \lat c}}$
$a \smte b \late c ^{a \smte b \late c ^{a \smte b \late c}}$
\end{document}

• The symbol names are taken from package unicode-math.
• The symbols follow the sizes of the different math styles.
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Here's a solution that doesn't need any packages; it uses ooalign, one of @egreg's favourite tools for which he gives an excellent tutorial in \subseteq + \circ as a single symbol ("open subset")

\end{document}
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