# \cdot

The ⋅ symbol (Dot operator, U+22C5), written as \cdot in LaTeX math mode.

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

## Metadata

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Topic | [Binary operators](https://texform.dev/latex/topics/binary-operators) |
| Packages | base |
| Allowed mode | math |
| Glyph | ⋅ |
| Unicode | U+22C5 DOT OPERATOR |
| Delimiter | No |

## Syntax

```latex
\cdot
```

Takes no arguments.

## Common tasks

### How to write a centered dot product

```latex
a\cdot b
```

[Open in Playground](https://play.texform.dev/?input=a%5Ccdot+b)

### How to write a product of several factors

```latex
a_1\cdot a_2\cdot a_3
```

[Open in Playground](https://play.texform.dev/?input=a_1%5Ccdot+a_2%5Ccdot+a_3)

### How to write a placeholder times sign

\cdot is a binary operator; \dots is an ellipsis.

```latex
3\cdot 10^8
```

[Open in Playground](https://play.texform.dev/?input=3%5Ccdot+10%5E8)

## Usage frequency

6.21% of formulas in the measured corpus contain this entry, rank 16 of 474 entries with frequency data.

## In TeXForm

TeXForm parses this entry as a character leaf mapped to U+22C5 (DOT OPERATOR).