# How do I add outward pointing arrows to the \thicksim math symbol?

I am in need of a symbol that looks like \thicksim, but with outward pointing arrows at each side. Is there a package I can use to achieve the desired effect?

• Here is a visual of each of @StevenB.Segletes's suggestions: image – Werner Feb 12 at 21:35
• Thank you Steven and Werner. This approximates the effect I am looking for. Is there a way to, rather than joining the symbols, convert the endings of the \thicksim into arrows without having to get down to Metafont tweaking? – Santiago Nuñez-Corrales Feb 12 at 21:39
• Very few fonts are directly generated from metafont these days almost al uses use scalable type1 versions – David Carlisle Feb 12 at 22:21
• you could use this \leftrightsquigglearrow from the stix package (also in amssymb, but the ams one is more jagged) – David Carlisle Feb 12 at 22:22

I can to propose a suitably rotated of the standard symbol into the MnSymbol package called \squigarrownwse (with two variants using or only \rotatebox or \rotatebox+\reflectbox) that has the arrows both on the left and on the right as in the attached image and it could probably be a symbol that you like. You can determine the blanks you want either by inserting \, or by omitting those blanks.

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{MnSymbol}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\newcommand{\squisimm}{\rotatebox[origin=c]{-90}{$\squigarrownwse$}}
\newcommand{\squisim}{\rotatebox[origin=c]{-90}{\reflectbox{$\squigarrownwse$}}}

\begin{document}
$f(x)\squisim\, g(x), \quad \psi(x)\squisimm\, \varphi(x)$
\end{document}


ADDENDUM: Surely this code is better than the previous because with fdsymbol package the arrows are horizontal and not inclined.

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{fdsymbol}%%%%%%%%% <----------I prefer this package
\usepackage{graphicx}
\newcommand{\horsquigarrow}{\rotatebox[origin=c]{-90}{$\updownsquigarrow$}}
\begin{document}
\noindent Peraphs this is a better symbol because the arrows are horizontal and not inclined: see example below.
$$\lambda \horsquigarrow \mu, \quad \text{ other symbol}$$
\end{document}


Other image:

• Hello @Sebastiano, this is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very, very much. – Santiago Nuñez-Corrales Feb 13 at 2:28
• @SantiagoNuñez-Corrales Hi, I have very happy to help you :-) :-) – Sebastiano Feb 13 at 9:18
• That is a very nice adaptation! – Steven B. Segletes Feb 13 at 11:20
• @StevenB.Segletes So I become emotioned...:-) – Sebastiano Feb 13 at 22:59