# How to use Arabic symbols as mathematical variables?

so I am incredibly new to LaTex. Generally for my math writings and such, I just use MS Word's equation editor. However recently I was just playing around and I created my "own" equation set. I wanted to denote this with an unused symbol for my own satisfaction; unfortunately (I think) all the Greek letters have been used in some way, so I looked at the arabic letter و (waw) to suit my function needs. However, I have no idea how to work with it to make subscripts, equations, etc. Anyone have advice?

Also, what IDE do y'all use, because I've installed both TeXStudio and TexWork, and both are painfully slow/crash frequently

You can do it, but I don't think your readers will be happy.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\DeclareRobustCommand{\waw}{{\text{\usefont{U}{xnsh}{m}{n}\symbol{240}}}}

\begin{document}

$\waw+3=x_{\waw}$

\end{document}


You can create a table of the font with

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fonttable}
\begin{document}
\xfonttable\usefont{U}{xnsh}{m}{n}
\end{document}

• I would agree :). Strange symbols make even easy stuff look complicated. – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Apr 23 '17 at 22:47