Chemical notation is the specialized system of signs and symbols used in chemistry. Chemical notation is a short hand system to represent what is happening without having to write everything in long hand.

The most basic part of chemical notation is the abbreviations for elements used in the periodic table. Each individual element has a unique one or two letter code to identify it. The first letter of this code is upper case and the second, if present, is lower case. For example the element hydrogen is represented by the symbol H, and the element calcium is represented by Ca. When an element is encountered it is given the appropriate symbol. The majority of times when materials are encountered they are compounds, consisting of two or more of elements. Compounds can be represented in the chemical notation system. Compounds are represented by the symbols for the...