# Why does the asterisk go up when you switch from input to another mode? [closed]

So my teacher said that if we solved this question we would get extra credit (please tell me if I'm being too vague and I will clarify) When you change from the input to the regular text mode in Mathematica, the asterisk (*) goes up, and sometimes it doesn't. Why does the asterisk go up? Thank you so much!

• The second iteration of this question belongs in math.stackexchange.com Mar 6, 2016 at 22:22
• @QuantumDot I am so sorry-first time using this site, and I thought I was writing a new question not deleting my old one...can you still please answer my first question? Why does the asterisk go up when you switch from input to another mode? Thank you very much. Mar 6, 2016 at 22:28
• @march I'm not cheating-I'm allowed to use the internet and Mathematica resources, but I'm not allowed to ask other students. This is a "fun/trivia" extra credit assignment. Mar 6, 2016 at 22:38
• @desperatestudent. Then I rescind the "especially since it is worth extra credit" and "young learners" parts, but it is still true that this site is not for getting answers to homework questions. See if you can do some exploration about the situation yourself, then include what you tried and were able to come up with in your post, and then perhaps we can help. Mar 6, 2016 at 22:40
• You might learn more if you figured it out.... :) Mar 7, 2016 at 1:32

In an input mode (and there is more than one) when you type in an asterisk it is interpreted as Times and is rendered by a special glyph, unicode 22C6 (unicode name: STAR OPERATOR)