Indeed - formal symbols have no intrinsic meaning, and one must learn their meaning as a separate step from learning their form and how to recognize them. One'

Indeed - formal symbols have no intrinsic meaning, and one must learn their meaning as a separate step from learning their form and how to recognize them. One's chances of finding out what an unfamiliar symbol means in context (or a familiar symbol in unfamiliar usage) is greatly helped (though not completed) if you can get a name or one or more précis of its uses.