# How do I draw a tilde in math mode? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
How does one insert a backslash or a tilde into LaTeX?

I have tried using \text{\~{}} to draw a tilde in math mode. However, this only produces a superscript tilde.

I have looked around at many pages such as this one: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/LaTeX:Symbols

and surprisingly, I can't find where to draw a tilde in math mode (not under or above a character - just a single tilde character). If I just use ~, then nothing appears.

## marked as duplicate by Werner, Gonzalo Medina, user11232, doncherry, Peter GrillOct 3 '12 at 23:43

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}

\begin{document}
$\backsim\ \sim\ \thicksim$
\end{document}


• What does "sim" stands for? This is a short for what? – rkioji Nov 14 '18 at 13:25
• I believe "sim" is short for similar. This symbol is often used to relate similar things, such as in linear algebra where ~ means two matrices are row-equivalent (which is a similarity between those matrices). – define cindy const Mar 27 at 4:19

Is \sim an option for you? It looks like a tilde.