Caret facts for kids

The caret is a special symbol that looks like an upside-down "V" (^). You might see it used in different ways, like in writing or on computers. People sometimes call it a hat, control, or uparrow symbol. It's also used to mean "to the power of" in math.

What is a Caret?

The caret symbol (^) is a character found in computer systems, like in the ASCII code. It's a single symbol that can stand for different things depending on where it's used.

Caret in Proofreading

Long ago, and even today, the caret is used when people are checking written documents. It's a special mark that shows where something needs to be added. Imagine you're writing a story and forget a word. You can draw a caret below the line where the word should go. Then, you write the missing word above the caret or in the margin.

The word "caret" comes from the Latin word caret, which means "it lacks" or "it is missing." This makes sense because the symbol tells you that something is missing from the text.

• If you need to add a comma or another small mark, you draw the caret below the line.
• If you need to add something higher up, like an apostrophe, you might draw an upside-down caret above the line.

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  Carets showing where to add a comma, apostrophe, and quotation marks.

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  A caret showing where to add a letter.

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  A caret showing where to add a word.

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  A caret showing where to change a word.

Caret in Computers

On computers, the caret symbol (^) has many uses. For example:

• In some computer programs, it can mean "to the power of," like in math (2^3 means 2 to the power of 3, which is 8).
• It can also be used in programming languages or for special commands.

Images for kids

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  This old typewriter has special keys for accents, but the caret symbol is also important for many computer uses.