[Tex/LaTex] difference between \ge and \geq (or equivalentely between \le and leq)

math-modesymbols

I have always used \geq, but recently saw a document where the person uses \ge.

Once compiled, they look the same, but I searched to see if there was any difference between the two or a guideline as to which one to use, and most places say they are the same, but this source says

For greater than or equal to use the \ge command. The \geq command
means greater than or equivalent to.

which makes no sense to me.

The question is then: are there any differences between the two, or any recommendation as to which one to use (what I have in mind is, for example, the case of eqnarray vs align, or $$ vs \[ \], where only the second option in each case should be used).

Best Answer

No. That quote is not correct.

In Plain TeX, \le is let to \leq and \ge is let to \geq, so they are equivalent.

The LaTeX kernel contains the following lines:

\DeclareMathSymbol{\leq}{\mathrel}{symbols}{"14}
\let\le=\leq
\DeclareMathSymbol{\geq}{\mathrel}{symbols}{"15}
\let\ge=\geq

so the pairs \le,\leq, and \ge, \geq are equivalent in standard LaTeX.

As you can see, \ge and \geq are just different names for the same object (and similarly for \le and \leq). Both \ge and \geq stand for "greater than or equal to" and both \le and \leq stand for "less than or equal to".

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