# Can I make the infinity symbol with the alt key? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901 "2004-01-17T07:33:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/1 "2004-01-17T07:33:29Z")
With the alt key, one can add an accent to an e (é; alt+130) or produce various other symbols. Is there a button combination for the infinity symbol? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/2 "2004-01-17T10:37:55Z")
> [@Duderdude2](#): > > With the alt key, one can add an accent to an e (é; alt+130) or produce various other symbols. Is there a button combination for the infinity symbol? Thanks. In HTML code, either ∞ or &# 8734; will produce that symbol ( ∞ ). But I don’t think it can be done with the Windows Alt- key combinations – it it not in the basic 8859 character set that Windows uses. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/3 "2004-01-17T14:19:07Z")
The Unicode value is U+221E, but, as **t-bonham** says, I don’t think that there is a standard ASCII value for ∞. (If you are using a Windows application, you can find it on the character map down near the bottom among the currency and math symbols, from which you can Select/Copy/Paste it.) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/4 "2004-01-17T17:27:44Z")
Try **ALT + 236** You’ll get **∞** There’s a pretty extensive list of these at one of my webpages: [www.1728.com/altchar.htm](http://www.1728.com/altchar.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/5 "2004-01-17T17:42:09Z")
Under Win98 and Word 2000 Alt + 236 gives me an underline. Same in Wordpad. The following happens here in IE6 when I hit that key combination: \_ ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/6 "2004-01-17T17:45:55Z")
Seems the font makes a difference. Here it is in Courier New font. ∞ ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/7 "2004-01-17T17:55:01Z")
**Expano** I made that post before I read _your_ posting. Whatever the default font for this Message Board is, I get ∞ when I type ALT 236. Seems a little lopsided doesn’t it ? (That is, the right side seems wider than the left side. Same thing happened in my original post). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/8 "2004-01-17T18:40:01Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **Expano** > I made that post before I read _your_ posting. > Whatever the default font for this Message Board is, I get ∞ when I type ALT 236. Seems a little lopsided doesn’t it ? (That is, the right side seems wider than the left side. Same thing happened in my original post). I checked. My IE default font for plain text is Courier New. Setting Word 2000 to a font of Courier New still gives me an underline. And I see both sides of the infinity symbol as exactly alike. What OS/browser/format/etc. are you posting/viewing in? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/9 "2004-01-17T19:23:33Z")
I’m using Windows 2000 and IE6 which is what you are using. Sheesh. You’d think by now there’d be some sort of standardization with these dadburned ornery computin’ machines. And just to add to all this confusion, you may have noticed that my site hasn’t been working for the past 2 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/10 "2004-01-17T20:20:50Z")
Not quite. I’m using Word 2000 but Windows 98. That could be the difference. Though I can’t imagine why. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/11 "2004-01-17T22:34:52Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > In HTML code, either ∞ or ∞ will produce that symbol ( ∞ ). > > But I don’t think it can be done with the Windows Alt- key combinations – it it not in the basic 8859 character set that Windows uses. 0123456890 ---
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-the-infinity-symbol-with-the-alt-key/224901/12 "2004-01-18T00:30:21Z")
ALT-2600 doesn’t seem to work 🆒