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In written English, I always have used them interchangeably, but I guess there must be a difference in use for both.

What are the differences between those 2 characters? When to use one or another?

Adrián Jaramillo
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    It is not normal to use the character '=' at all unless you are writing about mathematical or scientific equations. What is your context? – Colin Fine Dec 02 '20 at 21:30
  • @ColinFine Don't really have one. Throughout my life as an English student, I have sometimes used them interchangeably. I know the use for the character "=" in maths, but I was wondering if It could also be applied to a list of terms for example... If you want a context, I could tell you essays, articles, reviews...etc. – Adrián Jaramillo Dec 02 '20 at 21:37
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    Examples, please. Aside from technical writing, I would not expect to see '=' anywhere in English prose. – Colin Fine Dec 02 '20 at 21:41
  • @ColinFine An example could be... a bulleted list. Imagine having to define a term per bullet point. For example: "Dog = an animal with fur, four legs, and a tail, often kept as a pet". Is that correct? – Adrián Jaramillo Dec 02 '20 at 21:45
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    Probably somebody has written definitions that way. I doubt if you would find a style guide anywhere that accepted it. People will understand it, but it is not the norm – Colin Fine Dec 02 '20 at 21:52
  • I have sometimes used the equals sign on this forum to indicate 'means the same as'. It certainly has nothing to do with a colon, which marks a division in a sentence. – Kate Bunting Dec 03 '20 at 09:34
  • In which situation would you be able to interchange them? I can't imagine any situation where I would substitute one for the other, they mean very different things. – Polygnome Dec 03 '20 at 12:46
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    I see, and occasionally even use, = in informal prose. It's always a shorthand for "is the same as", "is equivalent to" or something similar. – Chris H Dec 03 '20 at 13:16
  • @ChrisH I'm not sure that still counts as prose. I would say there's no use of the equals sign in English grammar, but of course we use non-grammatical constructions all the time in informal situations. – user3067860 Dec 03 '20 at 18:11

1 Answers1

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The symbol "=" is an "equals sign" and is normally a substitute for the word "equals". It is almost always used in writing mathematical equations or in writing about mathematics. It is sometimes, in informal writing, used is a sort of metaphorical way. For example someone might write "killing = murder" to indicate that they are the same thing. It pretty much always indicates that two expressions have the same meaning of value.

I have also seen "=" used on a political protest sign used as a shorthand for "equality" in the political sense. This is also a very informal use.

The symbol ":" is the colon. It has several uses in written English. It can introduce a list, it can separate an introductory clause from a clause that is a complete sentence, it can separate a premise from a conclusion (now a rare usage), it is used to separate hours from minutes in an expression of time. None of these uses involve equating one thing with another. I cannot think of any situation in which a colon and an equals sign can be used interchangeably.

David Siegel
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  • Hey. I just added a couple of words in the first sentence, because many people are more familiar with this term of "equal to". I hope you don't mind me changing that. If you think it is wrong, I guess you can rollback the edit. – Dhanishtha Ghosh Dec 03 '20 at 09:12
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    @Dhanishtha Ghosh To the best of my knowledge this (=) is always called the "equals sign":and never the "equal to sign" – David Siegel Dec 03 '20 at 09:15
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    How about "1:1 meeting"? – Grzegorz Oledzki Dec 03 '20 at 10:43
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    @GrzegorzOledzki I have never seen "one-on-one" meeting abbreviated "1=1 meeting. – Polygnome Dec 03 '20 at 12:48
  • @Polygnome neither have I. – Grzegorz Oledzki Dec 03 '20 at 12:57
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    @GrzegorzOledzki The colon can also be used as an abbreviation of the word "to" in certain contexts, usually involving ratios (e.g. "5:1 mixture of flour and sugar"). In the case of the meeting, it's referring to the ratio of the workers and managers present at the meeting (one of each). – nick012000 Dec 03 '20 at 13:00
  • IMO a good use of a colon would be to introduce a bulleted list of uses of the colon in the answer (as a demonstration, but the items are too long to work well as an inline list). The ratio/"to" usage could then be added without breaking up the flow. = is occasionally used as an ASCII bullet, though * and - are much more common; even # might be used more than =. – Chris H Dec 03 '20 at 13:07