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\begin{Large}
\noindent
October 26, 2021
\begin{center}
{\large {\bf Handout: Rotating Symbols in LaTeX}}
\end{center}
Someone suggested in class that we could make the infinity symbol, $\infty$, in LaTeX by putting ``8'' on its side. I think that was indeed an old way to do it in typewriters. LaTeX has the command  ``$\backslash infty$' which does it directly, but as I said in class, LaTeX has ways to do all kinds of things, and they're easy to look up. So here is how I looked that up. 

1. I googled ``latex rotate symbol''. 

2. I found a blog article at:  \href{https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2020/11/18/rotating-symbols-in-latex/}{https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2020/11/18/rotating-symbols-in-latex/}.

3. In the article I found that with  the ``\textbackslash usepackage\{graphicx\}'' package (like with ``import matplotlib.pyplot as plt'' in Python)  we can use the command  ``\textbackslash rotatebox[origin=c]\{180\}\{8\} + 50''.

4. I changed the 180 to 90:
   ``\textbackslash rotatebox[origin=c]\{90\}\{8\} + 50''.

5.  Alas, the simple LaTeX in Python doesn't allow add-on packages such as graphicx.  Instead, you need to run LaTeX  a different way, e.g., with 
\href{https://www.tutorialspoint.com/online_latex_editor.php}{https://www.tutorialspoint.com/online$\_$latex$\_$editor.php}. There, you use these commands: 
\begin{verbatim}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
x = \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{8} + 50
\end{document}
\end{verbatim}
 If you do that, the computer prints out on the screen:  
 x = \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{8} + 50
 
 \newpage

I just told you on the previous page that the commands:  
\begin{verbatim}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
x = \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{8} + 50
\end{document}
\end{verbatim}
would yield: 
 x = \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{8} + 50
 

If you used math mode, with \$ on each side, so it looked like 
\$ x = \textbackslash rotatebox[origin=c]\{90\}\{8\} + 50\$, you'd get:  $ x = \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{8} + 50$

 
Using \$ x = \textbackslash infty + 50\$, you'd get:  $ x = \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{8} + 50$

 

6. I tried some other examples. 

Here is an ``a'' and a  checkmark rotated 90 degrees (sideways), with a regular checkmark first for comparison: $ \checkmark \;\;\; a \;\;\; \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{\checkmark}\;\;\; \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{a}$ 

Here is a checkmark rotated 180 degrees, so it is upside down:
$\checkmark \;\;\;  a \;\;\;\rotatebox[origin=c]{180}{\checkmark}\;\;\;\rotatebox[origin=c]{180}{a}$ 

Here is a checkmark rotated 45 degrees, so it is slanted: 
$\checkmark \;\;\;  a \;\;\; \rotatebox[origin=c]{45}{\checkmark}\;\;\;\rotatebox[origin=c]{45}{a}$ 

Here is a checkmark rotated 20 degrees, so it is slanted less: 
$\checkmark  \;\;\;  a \;\;\;\rotatebox[origin=c]{20}{\checkmark}\;\;\;\rotatebox[origin=c]{20}{a}$ 

You can rotate more than one symbol at a time, too: 
$\checkmark   anteater   \rotatebox[origin=c]{45}{\checkmark anteater}$
   
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