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I saw in math.stackexchange that someone uses \perp for what I always use \bot. In XeLaTeX: lost \perp in Cambria math? it says that they are two different symbols, do they just look the same?

I guess the spacing is different like in \Longleftrightarrow and in \iff, which one should be used in math?

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\DeclareMathSymbol{\bot}{\mathord}{symbols}{"3F}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\perp}{\mathrel}{symbols}{"3F}

So they use the same glyph from the same font but \perp gets the spacing for an infix relation like < whereas \bot is a mathord so gets no special spacing, like a letter x.

So either can be used in math, depending on the intended meaning.

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    For the semantics: I use \perp for "Perpendicular" and \bot for "bottom" (a contradiction in logic).
    – Martin Thoma
    Commented Feb 18, 2014 at 10:11
  • Also \not\perp looks good but \not\bot does not.
    – Ramiro de la Vega
    Commented Oct 15, 2021 at 15:27

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