Why is there a Tilda ~ on the keyboard when it is to go above letters to make them sound different?

Answer 1

The tilde has other uses. For instance, it can be used to indicate an approximate equality.

x + 5 ~ 25

x = 19.9

:)

Answer 2

Same reason as there's an underscore when it's supposed to go underneath letters to emphasise them. Originally there were a lot of symbols on a manual typewriter keyboard so you could backspace and get underlined or accented letters. People found other uses for the tilde and underscore so they survived into the computer keyboard.

Answer 3

Well in spanish we have the Ñ (ñ)
We don't really just use the ~ to make that letter
I press ALT 164 to make it
and use ALT 154 for the capital one
Although the definition of the Tilde (http://dict.die.net/tilde/)
Is to mark those letters that do give us a defferent sounds.
Not just spanish but in other languages as well.
:)

Answer 4

That's not what it's for. Do a search for "alt special characters" to find out what numerical sequence you need to type to generate these letters (usually Spanish).

Answer 5

One option you have is to open Microsoft Word, go to Insert at the top, and click symbol. Find the one you want in the font you like, and insert it. Then you can copy and paste it into whatever document you like.