Does anyone know what this symbol means?

U.S. English - I am trying to figure out what a symbol of a rectangle with a center vertical line through it stands for. It is used in this context (with the ? substituting for it):

$2/? to as high as $8/?

The amounts in question most likely would br either be $2,000 - $8,000 or $20,000 - $80,000.

Thanks!

I have no idea what you are referring to. Is it possible to provide a link to a page where it can be seen?

All I can think of is that zero is sometimes written as an 0 with a diagonal line through it, to distinguish it from a letter O in a serial number or the like. Not what your description sounds like, though.

And capital phi -- Φ -- doesn't sound like it either. Can you post a picture?

Sorry, no picture, this is on someone's hand written notes.

But, imagine if the symbol that # 3 drew were a rectangle, with the line going through the middle ( the center line is taller and overlaps both top and bottom.)

Or imagine the 0 with the slash through it except that the 0 is a rectangle and the slash is not diagonal but straight up and down.

Based on your original post, I imagined almost exactly what you are describing at #4 except that I didn't know that the vertical line passed through both the top and bottom of the rectangle. Even so, I cannot tell you what the symbol means; it's totally unfamiliar to me.

Thanks for the more complete description. I hope that someone else will recognize the symbol and tell you its meaning.

So like this: 中 ? (That's a Chinese character, but it sounds like what OP is describing, except that perhaps the OP's rectangle is larger.)

Exactly like that # 6.

In Mandarin, that is a "ta"(rhymes with far). It means big, or large , depending on the context.

Um, no. In Mandarin, 中 is "zhong". It means such things as "center" and "middle," depending on the context.

Big is 大, and it is pronounced "da," not "ta."

Does it come from writing cheques/checks, where you fill the box with the number amount in with a line so no one can add more numbers? Long shot I know.

I think 大 was written ta in the Wade-Giles. craneboywill may be craneoldmanwill. Peita was what Beijing University used to be called, and I think that was an abbreviation for a long name that involved. 大.

All to be taken with a grain of salt; I don't know Chinese (although I knew 大 and 中 -- noddy badge for me!).

That's true, in Wade-Giles it was "ta." It's still not 中, though.

The university is 北大 -- today the transcription is "bei da." It's short for 北京大学 (Bejing daxue = Beijing university).

It was 'ta' in Wade-Giles becuase technically the initial consonant is an unaspirated voiceless+ stop, but to English speakers this sounds close to 'd'. Pinyin 't' was t' (ie t apostrophe) in Wade-Giles.

$2/? to as high as $8/?

I'm puzzled by the slash (/). Was it in the original? Did it look like $2/中? Or $2中?

With the slash, it might even be a Q in lousy handwriting. $2-8 per Quarter.

The slash was in the original: $2/中

The handwriting is very neat.

In other parts of the document the slash was used instead of parenthesis: your brother/s instead of your brother(s).

I'm thinking that possibly it might mean approximately or around in light of #9 saying "In Mandarin, 中 is "zhong". It means such things as "center" and "middle,"

From the FOAK:
>A slash followed by a dash is used to denote the conclusion of currency. For example, on a check or a hand-written invoice, somebody may write $50/- to denote the end of the currency. This keeps anybody from adding further digits to the end of the number.

I've never heard of that, and in any case, it's not your symbol.

Any chance it was a badly written ± (plus-minus)?

The more I think about it, the more those slashes puzzle me. I don't think your writer is a native speaker of American English or else he/she is following some weird 19th Century conventions. Is the document modern or from some archive?

I think I would recognize it if it were a 19th century convention.

This is a contemporary document.

The writer appears to be fluent in English. I don't know his/her ethnic background (or name). The handwriting itself provides no hints as to ethnicity (it's all printed caps, no crossed 7's, etc.)

The handwriting is very neat. No chance of it being a plus-minus sign.

The writer is involved somehow in the field of architecture, home-remodeling or construction, (I don't know precisely where/how.)

Is there any way you could make a photograph and post it?

Yes, scan it for us please.

"Peita was what Beijing University used to be called . . . ."

No, in English it was known and, moreover, still is known, as Peking University.

http://www.oir.pku.edu.cn/oirEn/aboutus.htm

The writer is involved somehow in the field of architecture, home-remodeling or construction

Finally providing some context... that's always a good idea in language questions. Now you would make us completely happy if you could additionally transcribe a part of the sentence around the mysterious signs.

Seems like it is some sort of unit... square foot? If we knew what item or material they were talking about, it'd probably be immediately clear.

gotcha... from Wikipedia:

A symbol for square foot, square feet, and "per square foot" commonly used in architecture, real estate and interior space plans is a simple square with a vertical line bisecting it. It is also occasionally written as a square with a slash through it.

#23 -- As I noted above, I don't read or speak Chinese. As far as I can recall, I have never read or had a conversation about Beijing/Peking University in any language but English.

So then I must have learned about "Peita" through some form of extra-sensory perception. Fascinating. I must further explore these powers, which I hereby vow only to use for good. And as soon as I go off line, I'll going to test my skill at webspinning and talking to fish, just in case.

.

I think 889 is taking issue with Beijing University as opposed to Peking University. (Whatever, man . . .)

And cool that you found that, klaush.

So no ESP then.

I could have told you that, VinnyD. If you had the power you wouldn't have had to ask me about the Philippines.

#27 -- Ah. So no ESP then. The webspinning and fish-talking didn't pan out too well either.

I am impressed, klaush. And just so it's clear for the OP,

"$2/◫ to as high as $8/◫" means "$2 per square foot to as high as $8 per square foot.

Thank you klush and all who helped!