Math symbols · U+222B

Integral symbol

∫ is the Integral character. It is text, not a picture — it takes the colour of the type around it and pastes into anything.

How to type it
Unicode
U+222B
Alt code
Alt+8747
HTML
∫
Unicode name
Integral
Your font
01 — Origin

Where the Integral symbol comes from

The integral sign is a long letter s, for the Latin summa. Leibniz wrote it that way in a manuscript of 1675 and it never changed — the elongated form was chosen so the symbol could stretch around whatever expression followed it.

Calculus, physics and engineering. Outside them it appears in typography demonstrations, because the character stresses a font’s handling of tall stretched glyphs more than almost anything else.

Worth knowing
The multi-loop forms ∬ ∭ ∮ are separate characters, not repetitions. Typing three integral signs in a row is not the same as a triple integral and will be spaced wrongly.
02 — Codes

Integral symbol codes

Four notations, one result: whatever you copy here comes out as U+222B.

03 — How to type

How to type ∫ on any keyboard

Keyboard, code, markup or document — the route to U+222B differs by tool.

Windows
Hold Alt and type 8747 on the numeric keypad, then release. Without a keypad, use the Character Map app (search “charmap”).
Mac
Press Control + Command + Space to open the character viewer, then search “integral”. Double-click to insert.
Phone
There is no shortcut on a phone keyboard. Tap the symbol at the top of this page, then long-press in any text field and choose Paste.
Web and code
In HTML write ∫ or ∫. In CSS content: "\222B". Make sure the page is served as UTF-8 and the raw character works too.
04 — Font support

Will ∫ actually show up?

We checked 147 fonts installed on a normal machine and counted how many of them contain this character. A symbol missing from a font is drawn as an empty box — the text is still correct, it just cannot be drawn.

89% 131 of 147 fonts

Safe in most places. Common fonts have it. Older or decorative fonts sometimes do not, so a fallback font will kick in.

05 — Similar

Symbols people confuse with ∫

Close enough to be mistaken for it, and still a different code point every time.

07 — Same block

Math symbols

Operators, set theory, logic, calculus — everything past the number row.

All math symbols →
08 — FAQ

Integral symbol — questions

How do I type the Integral symbol?
On Windows hold Alt and type 8747 on the numeric keypad. On Mac open the character viewer with Control + Command + Space and search “Integral”. Or just tap the symbol on this page — it goes straight to your clipboard.
What is the HTML code for ∫?
Write it as ∫ or ∫ in HTML, \222B in CSS content, and \u222B in JavaScript. All four produce the same character.
Is ∫ an emoji?
No. ∫ is a text character — it takes the colour of the text around it and works in usernames, filenames and documents. An emoji is replaced by a colour picture and is sometimes stripped by forms and systems.
Why does ∫ show as a box on some devices?
Because that font has no drawing for this character. We checked 147 fonts on a normal machine and 131 of them include it. The character itself is always correct; only the drawing is missing.