On the iPad, is there a way to add special symbols such as pi or the degrees symbol?

Question

On the iPad, is there a way to add special symbols such as pi or the degrees symbol?

Is there a way to add special symbols such as pi (π)

or degrees ( 75° F )?

If not, is there an app that will do it?

iPad, I have an iPad 3

Posted on Apr 21, 2012 9:30 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Glider_Guider Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 25, 2012 8:53 AM in response to Ralph9430

I stumbled on a way to get pi (π).

Go to Settings > General > International > Keyboards.

Select Add New Keyboard and then add the Greek keyboard.

In an application which uses a keyboard, e.g., Notes, if you want to add pi, you will now see the International keyboard symbol on the keyboard (bottom, left). When you hit the International keyboard symbol, the Greek keyboard appears and you can then select pi (upper row, right side) or any other greek alphabet symbol :-)

Seems like this would be an easy way for Apple (or some smart app programmer) to add a scientific/math keyboard for superscripts, subscripts, etc.

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Answer 2

Apr 25, 2012 9:04 AM in response to Glider_Guider

As already pointed out, the pi symbol isn't represented anywhere in the direct alternates on the virtual keyboard, but is available in several other apps and can be copied and pasted back into your document. For pi and the like I have been using Glyphboard, which has the basic ones; other alternatives exist also.

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Answer 3

DPAR15

Level 1

23 points

Mar 14, 2014 9:06 AM in response to Glider_Guider

You can copy and paste it. You can make a keyboard shortcut, just copy and paste it to phrase field. It also works with . I used iMessage on my mac to send it to my iPhone.

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Answer 4

Ralph9430

Level 7

21,949 points

Apr 21, 2012 10:08 AM in response to Glider_Guider

Many keys have alternate settings. Tap and hold on a key then slide to the symbol you want. In the case of the degree symbol tap and hold on the zero key to find the degree symbol.

While there are many alternative keys I didn't find any pi.

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Answer 5

PogoPossum

Level 4

2,509 points

Apr 21, 2012 10:11 AM in response to Glider_Guider

Glider_Guider wrote:

Is there a way to add special symbols such as pi (π)

or degrees ( 75° F )?

If not, is there an app that will do it?

Even if there was "an app for that", it would only work within the app itself. Programmers can create their own keyboard layouts, including symbols of their choice - which (I would imagine) could include Pi. But one keyboard app that had Pi could not be used in a second app. You can copy and paste between apps, however, so maybe that would solve your problem if you could find an app with Pi in it.

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