How to type Three Fifths
To type Three Fifths (⅗), press Alt + 8535 on Windows, holding Alt while typing the digits on the numeric keypad, or write ⅗ in HTML. On any system you can copy it from this page, or enter its codepoint U+2157 directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 2157 on Linux, or 2157 then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Vulgar Fraction Three Fifths
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+2157
- Windows
- Alt + 8535 needs regedit
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 8535 | Above 255, so Windows will not accept it as typed. Copy the character instead. |
| Mac | N/A | Press the keys together. |
| HTML | ⅗ | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+2157 | VULGAR FRACTION THREE FIFTHS |
Other fractions symbols
⅗ lives in the Number Forms block (U+2150-U+218F), fractions and Roman numerals as single characters. Within Unicode it is classified as No, a number that is not a digit. Fractions and superscript digits sit here.
What happens to ⅗ in a search box
⅗ is a precomposed fraction: Unicode says it can be rewritten as 3⁄5, three separate characters. Anything that normalises text to NFKC before comparing it does exactly that, which is why ⅗ pasted into a search field, a URL slug or a username can come back as 3⁄5 and match text that never contained ⅗ at all. NFC, the form this site uses, leaves it alone. Unicode also records its numeric value as 0.6, so software that asks a character what number it is gets 0.6 rather than an error.
How Three Fifths behaves in software
⅗ takes one column in a terminal. It carries no direction of its own, so in a line that mixes English with Arabic or Hebrew it takes the direction of the text around it rather than forcing one.
Every way to write Three Fifths
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+2157 |
| Decimal | 8535 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 85 97 |
| UTF-16 bytes | 21 57 |
| HTML entity | ⅗ |
| HTML numeric | ⅗ or ⅗ |
| CSS | \2157 |
| JavaScript | \u2157 |
| Python | \u2157 |
| URL-encoded | %E2%85%97 |
| SVG | 2157.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ⅗ arrives as â…—
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 85 97 are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.