# How do I write bicross product symbols in latex?

There are commands for the top two symbols \ltimes and \rtimes, however I have not been able to find commands for the other 4 symbols. Is there a simple way that I could create commands for these symbols?

Just combine existing symbols:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amssymb}

\begin{document}

$\blacktriangleright\mathrel{\mkern-4mu}<$,
$>\mathrel{\mkern-4mu}\blacktriangleleft$,
$\blacktriangleright\joinrel\mathrel{\triangleleft}$,
$\mathrel{\triangleright}\joinrel\blacktriangleleft$

\end{document}


\joinrel is defined (robustly) as \mathrel{\mkern-3mu}. It's enough for the last two symbols; for the first two a slighlty larger value of 4mu looks better to me.

As a matter of fact, \ltimes and \rtimes do not yield the "unsymmetric" symbols in your picture. They can be similarly obtained joining </ > with \triangleleft/\triangleright.

$>\joinrel\mathrel{\triangleleft}$ vs. $\rtimes$
$\mathrel{\triangleright}\joinrel<$ vs. $\ltimes$


My fantasy isn't rich enough to come up with names for all these ;-)

• Since the second looks like an alpha drawn with lines, maybe \linealpha and the reverse \lineahpla?
– AJF
Apr 4, 2019 at 18:49
• [I am new to this site, hopefully this is how I comment] Thank you for the help! I have gone with Stevens solution, but I have taken inspiration from your response! With a few alterations I was able to improve on the ltimes and rtimes just as you did. Apr 11, 2019 at 22:14

This takes campa's answer (+1) and makes an enhancement/alteration: it scales the result downward to occupy the same vertical footprint as the letter x.

Like campa's result, it works across math styles.

The MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools,amssymb,scalerel}
\newcommand\bicrossl{%
\mathrel{\scalerel*{\mathrel{\triangleright}\joinrel\blacktriangleleft}{x}}}
\newcommand\bicrossr{%
\mathrel{\scalerel*{\blacktriangleright\joinrel\mathrel{\triangleleft}}{x}}}
\newcommand\biopencrossl{%
\mathrel{\scalerel*{>\kern-.4\LMpt\joinrel\blacktriangleleft}{x}}}
\newcommand\biopencrossr{%
\mathrel{\scalerel*{\blacktriangleright\joinrel\kern-.4\LMpt<}{x}}}
\begin{document}
$x\bicrossr y$ and $x\bicrossl y$,

$x\biopencrossr y$ and $x\biopencrossl y$,

$\scriptstyle x\bicrossr y$ and $\scriptstyle x\bicrossl y$,

$\scriptstyle x\biopencrossr y$ and $\scriptstyle x\biopencrossl y$,
\end{document}


• +1 to you too, but my version already scales correctly in different math styles ;-) Apr 4, 2019 at 14:32
• @campa Sorry. No slight intended Revised to reflect this fact. Apr 4, 2019 at 14:35
• None taken :-) Apr 4, 2019 at 14:36
• [I am new to this site, hopefully this is how I comment] Thank you for your response, I've manged to alter your solution slightly to get what I want. :) Apr 11, 2019 at 22:12
• That's great. This is the way to comment to the giver of an answer. To comment to someone who is part of the conversation but not the owner of the question or answer, you need to cite them by name, as in @OliverMorrison . Welcome to the site! Apr 12, 2019 at 0:47