What is difference between ≈ and ~?

3.1k Views Asked by At

I'm reading a quantum mechanics book, and it has the following equation:

$$ \Delta x \approx \frac{\lambda}{\sin\alpha} \sim \frac{h}{mc\sin\alpha} $$

What is the difference between $\approx$ and $\sim$?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

$\approx$ is used as the mathematical "approximately" symbol $-$ this means $ \Delta x $ has approximately the same value as $ \frac {\lambda}{\sin \alpha} $. However, $\sim$ is used a proportionality symbol, so there is some factor tacked onto $\frac{h}{mc\sin \alpha}$, which may be $1000$ or $2$ or something else.