# [Tex/LaTex] How to use maths symbols in text mode

math-modesymbols

I try to add a center dot with \circ but it fails to compile. How to use maths symbol in text mode? The error message is

ovak, slovenian, spanish, swedish, turkish, turkmen, ukrainian, uppersorbian,
(/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo))
(./untitled-1.aux)
! Missing $inserted. <inserted text>$

By default LaTeX is in text mode. In LaTeX all mathematics needs to be inside some maths mode contruction and many symbols, including \circ, are defined to only work in maths mode.

As the other anwsers show the standard way to cope with this is to place \circ between dollar signs: $\circ$. An alternative, that may become the default in future, is to use $$\circ$$. Single dollar \$ toggles between math and text mode; $$switches to maths mode from text mode and issues an error otherwise. See Are \( and$$ preferable to dollar signs for math mode? for some discussion.

(Another choice that could be useful is \ensuremath{\circ}, but this is more a programming construction.)

On the other hand \circ may not be producing the symbol you wish. A simple dot that is vertically centered is produced by \cdot:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
Some text $$\circ$$ and more and a centered dot $$\cdot$$ and more.
\end{document}

See How to look up a symbol or identify a math symbol or character? for discussion on finding symbols. Note that you will find that some symbols have variants starting with \text... that can be legitimately used in text mode.