i think it’s just a bug in the wikipedia template used to generate that table. the table lists:
| title="U+224F: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN" | [[Approximation#Unicode| ≏]]
which was a change introduced in 2013. there were a flurry of back and forth changes after someone the month earlier (accidentally?) surrounded all the symbols with [] link characters.
the unicode standard only refers to it as “difference between”, and not approximation.
Indeed. My maths education finished before Unicode existed, but that ≏ character was certainly the one the fearsome Fr. Leo taught me (the angriest teacher I have ever encountered).
Thank you.
All this explains why I never became a mathematician. I use maths nearly every day, but only basic geometry.
It’s also astrologese for Libra.
it’s always possible it did mean that, and eventually lost the battle in the great war of mathematical symbol standardization 19** [redacted]
apparently it is ( was? ) used in geometry for something called “equipollence” ( two line segments that have the same length and direction )
so it seems a pretty obvious leap from there to mr leo’s use of it as “approximate”, even if it maybe it didn’t get widely used that way.
but i am not a mathematician either. they’re dangerous. please don’t tell them where i live.
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