# \ast

The ∗ symbol (Asterisk operator, U+2217), written as \ast in LaTeX math mode.

https://texform.dev/latex/symbols/ast

## Metadata

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Topic | [Binary operators](https://texform.dev/latex/topics/binary-operators) |
| Packages | base |
| Allowed mode | math |
| Glyph | ∗ |
| Unicode | U+2217 ASTERISK OPERATOR |
| Delimiter | No |

## Syntax

```latex
\ast
```

Takes no arguments.

## Usage frequency

1.23% of formulas in the measured corpus contain this entry, rank 61 of 474 entries with frequency data.

## In TeXForm

TeXForm parses this entry as a character leaf mapped to U+2217 (ASTERISK OPERATOR).

### [base/ast-to-asterisk](https://texform.dev/rules/base/ast-to-asterisk)

Canonicalize the math binary operator \ast to the pixel-identical literal asterisk form.

Level: authoring. Fidelity: render.

```latex
\ast
```

→

```latex
*
```

```latex
A \ast B
```

→

```latex
A * B
```