What does four dots shaped in a square mean?

Answer 1

Mathematically, this symbol has nothing to do with gangs, of course. This is a very old symbol showing that two ratios or relationships are the same. You can use it to write the question, "'Puppy' is to 'dog' as what word is to 'cat'?" this way--

puppy:dog::X: cat

Obviously, X = "kitten," because "kitten" has the same relationship to "cat" that "puppy" has to "dog."

Or use it with numbers--

10:5::X:20

--where X must be 40.

This symbol appears in research papers, usually when the author is explaining something about the experimental and/or control groups--

The sample population sex ratio was males:females::3:2.

From this, we don't know how many members (humans, rats, whatever) were in the sample population, but we do know there were three males per two females (to put it another way, the population was 60% male and 40% female). I edit research papers before they are published, and I am seeing a movement (or perhaps a "drift") toward using percentages instead of ratios. However, this symbol "::" does show up sometimes.

I don't know its name, however; I was looking for the name when I found this question. When reading aloud, you say "as" when you reach it: "Males were to females as three is to two," for example. But I don't think it's name is "as." Does anyone know its name?

Answer 2

Well, honey, those four dots shaped in a square are typically used as a symbol to indicate a pause in written text. It's called an ellipsis, in case you were wondering. So next time you see those dots, just remember that someone's probably taking a dramatic pause or leaving something out.