Greek Alphabet

Pronunciation: /grik ˈælfəˌbɛt/ Explain

The Greek alphabet is often used in mathematics. The Greek letters can be used as variables, or represent concepts or constants. The conventional use of some of the letters is given.

Name	Upper Case	Lower Case	Conventional Use
Alpha	Α	α
Beta	Β	β
Gamma	Γ	γ	Gamma is used to represent the gamma function, a generalization of factorial.
Delta	Δ	δ	Δ is used to represent the concept of change. 'Δx' (read delta-x) means the change in x
Epsilon	Ε	ε	ε is used to represent a very small positive quantity.
Zeta	Ζ	ζ
Eta	Η	η
Theta	Θ	θ	θ is used as a variable to represent the measure of an angle.
Iota	Ι	ι
Kappa	Κ	κ
Lambda	Λ	λ
Mu	Μ	μ
Nu	Ν	ν
Xi	Ξ	ξ
Omicron	Ο	ο
Pi	Π	π	π is constant defined as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter. Its value is approximately 3.14159.
Rho	Ρ	ρ
Sigma	Σ	σ	Σ is an operator used to indicate repeated addition.
Tau	Τ	τ
Upsilon	Υ	υ
Phi	Φ	φ	Golden section
Chi	Χ	χ
Psi	Ψ	ψ
Omega	Ω	ω

References

1. McAdams, David E.. All Math Words Dictionary, Greek letters. 2nd Classroom edition 20150108-4799968. pg 88. Life is a Story Problem LLC. January 8, 2015. Buy the book
2. greek alphabet. merriam-webster.com. Encyclopedia Britannica. Merriam-Webster. Last Accessed 7/11/2018. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/greek alphabet. Buy the book
3. Auden, H. W. and Taylor, Allan E. A Minimum of Greek. pp 2-3. www.archive.org. Morang & Co., Limited. 1906. Last Accessed 7/11/2018. http://www.archive.org/stream/minimumofgreekha00audeuoft#page/1/mode/1up. Buy the book
4. Timothy M. Hagle. Basic Math for Social Scientists: Concepts. pg vii. Sage Publications, Inc. June 29, 1995. Last Accessed 7/11/2018. Buy the book
5. Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering. en.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia Encyclopedia. Last Accessed 7/11/2018. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_letters_used_in_mathematics,_science,_and_engineering.
6. Sophocles, E. A.. History of the Greek Alphabet. www.archive.org. B. B. Mussey and Company. 1848. Last Accessed 7/11/2018. http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofgreekal00sophrich#page/n5/mode/2up. Buy the book

Cite this article as:

McAdams, David E. Greek Alphabet. 4/21/2019. All Math Words Encyclopedia. Life is a Story Problem LLC. http://www.allmathwords.org/en/g/greekalphabet.html.

Image Credits

• All images and manipulatives are by David McAdams unless otherwise stated. All images by David McAdams are Copyright © Life is a Story Problem LLC and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Revision History

4/21/2019: Updated equations and expressions to new format. (McAdams, David E.)
12/21/2018: Reviewed and corrected IPA pronunication. (McAdams, David E.)
8/7/2018: Changed vocabulary links to WORDLINK format. (McAdams, David E.)
7/10/2018: Removed broken links, updated license, implemented new markup, implemented new Geogebra protocol. (McAdams, David E.)
2/8/2010: Added "References". (McAdams, David E.)
12/15/2008: Added more entries into the list. (McAdams, David E.)
11/25/2008: Corrected appearance of lower case alpha. (McAdams, David E.)
6/7/2008: Corrected spelling. (McAdams, David E.)
2/18/2008: Corrected grammatical errors. (McAdams, David E.)
9/4/2007: Initial version. (McAdams, David E.)