# Can unicode fraction symbols be used in equations

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/can-unicode-fraction-symbols-be-used-in-equations/49023>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [October 26, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/can-unicode-fraction-symbols-be-used-in-equations/49023 "2020-10-26T04:31:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lincoln\_Hannah](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lincoln_hannah/32/19198_2.png) [@Lincoln\_Hannah](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Lincoln_Hannah)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/can-unicode-fraction-symbols-be-used-in-equations/49023/1 "2020-10-26T04:31:24Z")

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I’d like to use ½ in equations e.g.

X = 2  
Y = ½X

Is this possible?  
I just get error invalid character “½”

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**Author:** ![stillyslalom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stillyslalom/32/45687_2.png) [@stillyslalom](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stillyslalom)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/can-unicode-fraction-symbols-be-used-in-equations/49023/2 "2020-10-26T04:45:14Z")

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Julia places certain [restrictions](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/manual/variables/#Allowed-Variable-Names) on what’s allowed for the first letter of a variable name - broadly speaking, alphabetical characters (in most languages) are okay, and numerical characters are not. However, you can use the ‘½’ character in any subsequent position. It won’t behave like a numeric literal, though - that juxtaposition behavior is only allowed for things like 0.5, 1//2, and 1/2:

```julia
julia> X = 2
2

julia> 0.5X
1.0

julia> (1/2)X
1.0

julia> (1//2)X
1//1

julia> Y = X½ = 0.5X
1.0

julia> X½
1.0

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lincoln\_Hannah](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lincoln_hannah/32/19198_2.png) [@Lincoln\_Hannah](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Lincoln_Hannah)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/can-unicode-fraction-symbols-be-used-in-equations/49023/3 "2020-10-26T05:13:29Z")

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Thanks Alex