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I can type ⅓, ⅔ and ½ but can I type 3/3 and 2/2 using unicode? I know that from a mathematical point of view the fractions 2/2 = 3/3 = 1 but I am typing a list where I want to indicate that you have reached the final step (third step out of three steps) and entering "1", after ⅓ and ⅔, would confuse most readers, including myself if I look at my own list some time after I wrote it.

The "target" environment where I want to write these characters are unicode-aware text editors, some that support "rich formatting" and other typographic features.

(I was very hesitant regarding which forum this question would be on topic in so bear with me if you think I should have posted in somewhere else. The area I use this in is source code, hence UX and graphic design seemed off topic.)

Update: here are some screenshots of how superscript - fraction slash - subscript looks in TextEdit in OS X. Font is Helvetica. In the first image the font size is 12 pt, in the second 48 pt. As you can see the spacing is quite off and the subscript character looks quite odd, especially in the second image where it looks like to different character weights.

12 pt 48 pt

Update: since this question is closed I can't add a solution but at least on MacOS these days there is a fraction slash that allows you to combine anything (?) such as 3⁄1 enter image description here

d-b
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2 Answers2

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The U+2044 FRACTION SLASH character can be used to compose arbitrary fractions. However, support for rendering these fractions as ligatures may vary. Primarily, this depends on ligature support by the font, as each font must declare how glyphs may be combined.

Examples, using / as stand-in for the fraction slash in decomposed forms:

  • 1 / 2 = 1⁄2
  • 3 / 3 = 3⁄3
  • 7 / 13 = 7⁄13

Screenshot of the above example with a suitable font (the Ubuntu font).

Screenshot of the above example with the Ubuntu font shows the ligatures in effect

In practice, it might be better to explicitly use subscript and superscript forms to imitate the visual appearance of these fractions, or to not use fractions at all. After all, Unicode is not a layout engine, but a text encoding standard. In particular, you cannot control the precise appearance of text if you do not control the particular font & rendering engine used to display your text.

Further information:

Community
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amon
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1

Superscript, fraction slash, and subscript
But not sure how to fix spacing

⁴⁄₄

paparazzo
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