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How do I type boxtimes in Mathematica, for example $a\boxtimes b$? This symbol is used a lot in mathematics, but I found no corresponding part in Mathematica. In TeX form, I can type \boxtimes.

Can I make one in Mathematica, and type it in a simple way, like the following?

\[EscapeKey]b*\[EscapeKey]
Kuba
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9527
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  • possible duplicate of How can I create some shorthand notation for a custom control? – Szabolcs Sep 05 '13 at 18:04
  • Perhaps that's not the best question to mark this as a duplicate of. The solution is to create InputAliases. See the answer I linked on how. – Szabolcs Sep 05 '13 at 18:10
  • Thanks, Szabolcs. Your link is very helpful, which answers my second question. There is the first question left, how do I create the symbol $\boxtimes$? Maybe I need to make a RowBox? – 9527 Sep 05 '13 at 18:29
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    You can just paste it, or type it the same way you typed it here. Usually, to find out the name of a named character, you can use FullForm. For example, FullForm[α] will give you \[Alpha]. FullForm[⊠] gives me \:22a0, which is just it's unicode character code. So this particular character has no defined name in Mma. It is possible that there is another character which looks very similar and has a name, but I haven't been able to find it in the list. You can take a look too. – Szabolcs Sep 05 '13 at 18:33
  • Thanks. When I type \:22a0 I failed to get correct form $\boxtimes$. But I found a similar question How can one type a box with "x" marked. – 9527 Sep 05 '13 at 20:08
  • What do you get when you type it? Maybe Mathematica can't pull this character from a font that does have it. – Szabolcs Sep 05 '13 at 20:20
  • The checkbox character differs clearly from the box times character. – Sjoerd C. de Vries Sep 05 '13 at 20:54
  • When I typed \:22a0, I got an empty square which looks like \[EmptySquare]. When I apply FullForm to it, I do get \:22a0. So my Mathematica recognizes it, but can not display it correctly. Also, I tried \:22a1 for the box dot $\boxdot$, and Mathematica displayed the same empty square. – 9527 Sep 06 '13 at 02:18

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In my case the default font does not support this character and like OP I get \[EmptySqure] for each case.

As shown in Overlay/Applications you can proceed with \[EmptySquare], and \[Times], but they do not seem to fit quite well. You can use Alt+ArrowKey to adjust positions or type it explicitly:

Overlay[{"\[EmptySquare]", 
         "\!\(\*AdjustmentBox[\"\[Times]\",BoxBaselineShift->-0.15]\)"}]

enter image description here

Kuba
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