Delimiters are parentheses, braces, or other characters used to mark the start and end of subformulas. This formula has three sets of parentheses delimiting the three subformulas.
(z-z_0)^2 = (x-x_0)^2 + (y-y_0)^2
The delimiters do not need to match, so you can enter \( [0,1) \).
Here are the common delimiters:
| Delimiter | Command | Name |
|---|---|---|
| ( | ( | Left parenthesis |
| ) | ) | Right parenthesis |
| \{ | { or \lbrace | Left brace |
| \} | } or \rbrace | Right brace |
| [ | [ or \lbrack | Left bracket |
| ] | ] or \rbrack | Right bracket |
| ⌊ | \lfloor | Left floor bracket |
| ⌋ | \rfloor | Right floor bracket |
| ⌈ | \lceil | Left ceiling bracket |
| ⌉ | \rceil | Right ceiling bracket |
| ⟨ | \langle | Left angle bracket |
| ⟩ | \rangle | Right angle bracket |
| / | / | Slash, or forward slash |
| \ | \backslash | Reverse slash, or backslash |
| | | | or \vert | Vertical bar |
| ‖ | \| or \Vert | Double vertical bar |
The mathtools package allows you to create commands for paired
delimiters. For instance, if you put
\DeclarePairedDelimiter\abs{\lvert}{\rvert} in your preamble
then you get two commands for single-line vertical bars (they only work
in math mode). The starred form, such as
\abs*{\frac{22}{7}}, has the height of the vertical bars
match the height of the argument. The unstarred form, such as
\abs{\frac{22}{7}}, has the bars fixed at a default height.
This form accepts an optional argument, as in \abs[size
command]{\frac{22}{7}}, where the height of the bars is given in
size command, such as \Bigg. Using instead \lVert
and \rVert as the symbols will give you a norm symbol with the
same behavior.