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    I am now thoroughly confused – what is an ordinal? Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 19:30
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    @Ben The word “ordinal” in this context is copied from the symbols document which uses it without explanation. My guess is that it’s the usual sense: to denote a number symbol (operand) rather than an operator or a delimiter. I can’t think of a use for this, but the very similar symbol “‖” is used as an ordinal in standard typography, namely as the fifth footnote symbol. The consequence for LaTeX is spacing: | doesn’t introduce any. Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 20:26
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    So when using a vertical bar as a separator in a set definition before the condition, is that a relation or an operator? I'd say it's a delimiter, but those are left or right only, not centre. Correct? Commented Dec 16, 2013 at 2:30
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    @Christian Good question. A bit of both, I’d say. No idea what’d be appropriate here. Probably \mid / \mvert. Commented Dec 16, 2013 at 8:03
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    An FYI for those who want to use these symbols: \mvert and \divides require the MnSymbol package; \lvert and \rvert require amsmath or MnSymbol. Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 23:35