What is meant by the term 'symbol'. Give the qualitative and quantitative meaning of the term 'symbol'.

Symbol represents the short form of an element.

Qualitative meaning — A symbol represents specific element or one atom of an element. E.g., 'S' represents one atom of the element sulphur.

Quantitative meaning — A symbol also represents the weight of the element equal to it's atomic weight i.e. it represents how many times an atom is heavier than one atomic mass unit [a.m.u.] which is defined as $\dfrac{1}{12}$th the mass of a carbon atom C¹²