As everyone else said, it's set notation for all real numbers.
Real numbers include integers, rationals and irrationals such as
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white e )
, but stop short of including imaginary numbers like
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white i )
.
Sometimes it will be written
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white x \in \mathbb{R})
, which means the same thing.
Here are some other ones that you may encounter:
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mathbb{N})
(natural numbers)
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mathbb{Z})
(integers)
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mathbb{Q})
(rationals)
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mathbb{C})
(complex numbers)
You can also add a superscripted sign to place further restrictions.
e.g.
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mathbb{Z}^+)
means positive integers.