What's the collective term for things like =, >, < etc.?

[tell-me-more]

That's it folks! TIA

[heathfield]

'Symbols'? Specifically, 'mathematical symbols'.

[tell-me-more]

I'm after something more specific than that. Those symbols tell you the relationship between two expressions.

[Sasha13]

I always thought they were called operators but on looking up the word, it's not right - but it's along those lines I think.

[tell-me-more]

Thanks Sasha. They're things like multiply, divide, add and subtract etc. though. We know there's a word, we just can't think what it is.

[mibn2cweus]

Carrying on from heathfields lead and perhaps stretching a good thing beyond it limits these "mathematical symbols" might be further differentiated as "mathematical relation symbols" or "mathematical binary relation symbols?

[heathfield]

'Mathematical notation' is the only other description I can think of at the moment.

[THECORBYLOON]

I'm not aware of a name for the symbols in general but the processes of adding, subtracting etc are called operaions.

[THECORBYLOON]

They're also called operations...

[Quizmonster]

Operands, perhaps?

[THECORBYLOON]

I thought of operands QM but an operand is "a quantity on which an operation (sense 7) is performed" according to Chambers Online.

[Quizmonster]

Well, TCL, according to The Oxford English Dictionary (TOED), an operand is (quote) "a quantity or symbol to be operated on." (My emphasis) Whilst I have enormous respect for Chambers, of course, TOED is certainly the ultimate arbiter in my view.

I have to confess, of course, that I am no mathematician, so I may have misunderstood!

[heathfield]

Remember that in maths a symbol can represent a quantity, as ∏ (Pi) does.

[con-amca]

Are you sure there is a word for them? I think they are just "mathematical signs".

[tell-me-more]

Yes, "relations" was the word we were looking for. The symbols above all show the relationship between expressions (equal, greater than, and smaller than respectively) whereas, x, -, +, /, are all operations.

Thanks everyone.

[Space]

I call them "comparators"