@@AndrewDotsonvideos Tau is also used for 2pi And upper/lowercase phi is also used for ( 1 +/- sqrt(5))/2, or 1.618.. or 0.618.., otherwise known as the golden ratio
As a greek it was really funny watching this video, not only because of the pronounciation of the leters but also because I thought that we use them at physics at school because we are greeks and it's convinient.
I've been wondering how does it feel to a greek learn about things that involves greek names, since non greeks use these words to describe somenthing which has no real meaning and we usually associate them with a particular matter. However, for you, it already has real life meanings. Like when teacher asks what is an atom?, is it funny? Sorry, but I find it really curious;
@@canriecrystol in 1 word: "irony" I can give you a scenario. Teacher: "we're going to learn 'Trigonometry' which is actually Greek for 'three-angles.'" Me: "It's Greek for 'three-angle-measure' or 'three corner count' to be exact, but sure, close enough." Teacher: "huh?" Me: "Three- corner- count" Teacher : "I'm not sure I..." Me: "Three-corner-count!!' Because 'Three-corner' & ' Tri-Corner' & 'Tri-angle' & 'Triangle' & 'Tri-gono' & 'trigono' are the the same word." 'Tria' means 'three.' 'Gono' means corner, not angle, but there's no difference between a corner & an angle, (not really,) and 'metry' means 'count' or 'measure.' Put it all together 'tri-gono-metry' means 'three-corner-count' or 'three-corner-measure' or 'tri-angle count' or 'triangle measure' because 'count' & 'measure' are synonymous in Greek. It's fine, sorry, continue." Teacher: "Hmm..interesting. Now, angles are usually measured with the Greek letter θ which is pronounced 'thay-tah' and..." Me: "Not even close; 'theeeeeee-tah,' not 'thay-tah.'" Teacher : "So, do you need this class as a prerequisite?" Me: "Oh no, I'm not registered for this class. I'm not even a student here."
What? The letters used for angles are basically only alpha, beta, gamma, theta, and phi. That leaves the entire rest of the Greek alphabet of commonly used letters in mathematics. Basically, I think you're probably a young-ish kid pretending to have a math degree to sound "smort."
Andrew I just want to say thank you for these videos. It really helps me prepare for learning physics in college even though I'm in high school. Thank you for everything!
Lowercase delta for standard deviation?!?!?! OMG!! Your professors are destroying canonical mathematical and physical language... In statistics lowercase sigma is used for standard deviation, and S_x for the experimental approximation of standard deviation.
Chemistry major here: - sigma, pi and delta are used as types of bonds between atoms, uppercase - as term symbols in spectroscopy - lambda is molar electrical conductance - beta is shorthand for the 1/(kT) factor in thermodynamics - epsilon can denote the absorption coefficient of light by a substance - tau is characteristic time of a reaction - psi is still a goddamn wave function
In my classes we use tau for torque, lambda for linear density, and sigma for area density. In statistics we also use a bunch of these letters, like mu, sigma, and chi for instance
Epsilon can also be used to describe Hooke's Law, in terms of expanding the whole formula. I am pretty sure most of you know but here it is just for fun. Sigma, which is force over cross sectional area of the spring/wire, equals young's modulus multyplied by epsilon, which equals change in length over initial length of the wire. Ro I've seen it used in some textbooks describing the ratio of the isobaric volumes when it comes to calculate the efficiency of the diesel engine. Maybe it.s outdated, or maybe it.s strictly used by engineers, in some countries. Eta is used to describe the efficiency of say, an inclined plane where all sort of forces act on an object. Also used to describe the efficiency of pretty much all engines out there, not just the Carnot cycle. Nu, which looks like a normal v, is used for the quantity of substance, a fluid mainly, measured in moles. Sigma is also used in mathematics, and it is associated with permutations, which are just bijective functions(sets with some intrinsic properties that describe how the elements os a set turn out in another set). Phi and Psi are also used to describe permutations. Hope this helps a bit.
In addition, I have seen β used for sound intensity, κ for dielectric constant, μ for electron mobility, ρ for resistivity, ε for strain, and γ for shear strain.
I mean you can also use any of the greek letters arbitrarily for a set of angles in a given problem, when they aren’t all the same angle. Such as angle α,θ,φ,β, etc
Last semester I did a relativity course where the lecturer would always use lowercase rho for polar coordinates and lowercase xi for Cartesian. I never learned to write it properly either and just drew a squiggle. Apparently that was ok as I never lost marks for it.
Psi is also used for the stream function in fluid dynamics. Capital gamma is used in fluid dynamics too for the circulation. It’s also used for connection coefficients in relativity. Sigma is used for conductivity and for the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.
lower case sigma is often used for standard deviation or a surface charge density. lambda is also used for line charge density, lower tau is also used for torque, lower case xi is often used for eigenvectors, but that is more math than physics
Okay I love this new hair Style. Capital theta is the most terrifying greek letter in physics.Whenever it comes it feels like shlt is about to get real in physics.
This is such a useful video! As someone who took the AP Physics C test just a few months ago, the amount of Greek amused me, and I’m glad that won’t change. (Also, “xi-en it” had me laughing I’m not gonna lie)
Tau is two times pi. Also the integral symbol is a bastardized sigma. I have also seen lambda and gamma used as parameters in linear combinations, and alpha as an angle. I use phi as the electromagnetic flux and as an offset in a wave function. I mean the initial angle in radians at t=0 at the origin. And lowercase delta as the offset between two points in a wave. Beta is also used as the sound intensity. The greek letter nu is the frequency of a wave and I think you didn't mention it. Sigma is the weirdest one for me. From the things you've mentioned I've never seen one of them. I only remember using sigma as a type of chemical bond in chemistry But yeah, greek letters in physics are a huge world, and you could talk about it a lot.
Sigma is also used extensively in laser physics to refer to the stimulated emission “cross section,” which relates the Einstein A coefficient to the wavelength.
lowercase mu: not only magnetic permeability and coefficient of friction, but also: particle (muon) magnetic moment (or specifically Bohr's magneton) chemical potential
5:17 I remember having a derivations assignment on Lane-Emden equations , had to write this annoying little symbol almost 20 times and each time i did it looked even less better than it did before ...
Lowercase alpha also shows up in special relativity as the rapidity. Specifically, beta = tanh(alpha) and gamma = cosh(alpha). Edit: I can't find any examples of this convention in an online search, but I'm certain I've seen it.
I recently used an omicron with a wavy line on top õ for a constant factor before an integral in my assignment. I was feeling particularly jolly that day.
I've seen capital omega represent a function of discrete Fourier transforms, ie Ω[x] = (some function here). There were definitely a lot of other symbols that relate to electrical engineering that I couldn't remember how we use, because it's been a minute since I've used them. But this video is meant for physics students so I don't have any high ground whatsoever
The cosmological constant is not the rate at which the Universe is expanding; it was a parameter Einstein introduced in his equations to _stop_ the Universe from expanding. The Hubble "constant" is the rate at which the Universe is expanding (usually expressed in km/s per Mpc).
I use lambda for lambda calculus, Theta(x) is the set of all the complexity functions that are equivalent to x (oversimplifying), uppercase omega(x) the same as theta but the functions are greater or equivalent to x, lowercase omega(x) the same as theta but the functions are strictly grater than x
Some people use capital Δ is used for bandgap energies in solid state physics. Outside of 3.14159, we also used lowercase π in grad quantum to represent the parity operator (a map from ψ(x) |--> ψ(-x) ). Also, omicron (o-micron = small o) and omega (o-mega, big o); I just thought that was cool.
Just in case you're wondering what these letters sound like in spoken greek β - veeta Γ - gamma Δ - Thelta or soft delta η - eeta θ - theeta μ - mee ν - nee ο - omicron, but like the way you say ohms ρ - r but rolled τ - taf or tav φ - phee χ - this sounds more like hee than anything ψ - psee
"You probably won't see the upper case Gamma in undergrad since it is the Gamma function" we had to learn the Gamma function for my differential equations and for one of my statistics courses, rip me
@@vinitchauhan973 90% of the time. Maths is the language of Physics. It's like asking an English literature major how much time it spends reading and writing in English: probably almost all of the time. The other 10% is spent graphing functions, coding and doing data analysis on experimental data (which also involves a lot of math). However, once you finish school, you might spend more time in the lab doing measurements if you follow an experimental physics orientation (but it will still involve a tremendous amount of math for any serious work)
I know this is unrelated to greek letters, but in 2 weeks I'm visiting my brother who is stationed in Norfolk. I'm goning to take the advantage and tour ODU while I'm there.
alpha: general infinitesimal capital alpha: incredibly big general number omega : negative or positive infinitesimal capital omega: incredibly big number
The best definition for an eigenvalue was that it's the scaling factor of some vector's length (but *doesn't* change the direction) after a transformation (a matrix) acted on that vector (eigenvector).
Is no one going to mention that at 3:38 eta is also used for the Dirichlet eta function? (For those who don't know, the Dirichlet eta function is the alternating series version of the Riemann zeta function.)
1:12 Andrew: "I promise this gets better"
Me: You mean I promise this gets.... beta?
Get out
Sorry that joke was bad, but don't let it bug μ.
Ω-od... This is τ punny for me.
@@AndrewDotsonvideos Tau is also used for 2pi
And upper/lowercase phi is also used for ( 1 +/- sqrt(5))/2, or 1.618.. or 0.618.., otherwise known as the golden ratio
@@chrisrandall124 funny thing, if you say μ correctly, you just said "don't let it bug me"
As a greek it was really funny watching this video, not only because of the pronounciation of the leters but also because I thought that we use them at physics at school because we are greeks and it's convinient.
I've been wondering how does it feel to a greek learn about things that involves greek names, since non greeks use these words to describe somenthing which has no real meaning and we usually associate them with a particular matter. However, for you, it already has real life meanings. Like when teacher asks what is an atom?, is it funny?
Sorry, but I find it really curious;
@@canriecrystol in 1 word: "irony"
I can give you a scenario.
Teacher: "we're going to learn 'Trigonometry' which is actually Greek for 'three-angles.'"
Me: "It's Greek for 'three-angle-measure' or
'three corner count' to be exact, but sure, close enough."
Teacher: "huh?"
Me: "Three- corner- count"
Teacher : "I'm not sure I..."
Me: "Three-corner-count!!'
Because 'Three-corner' & ' Tri-Corner'
& 'Tri-angle' & 'Triangle' & 'Tri-gono' & 'trigono' are the the same word."
'Tria' means 'three.'
'Gono' means corner, not angle, but there's no difference between a corner & an angle, (not really,) and 'metry' means 'count' or 'measure.'
Put it all together 'tri-gono-metry'
means 'three-corner-count'
or 'three-corner-measure'
or 'tri-angle count'
or 'triangle measure' because
'count' & 'measure' are synonymous in Greek. It's fine, sorry, continue."
Teacher: "Hmm..interesting. Now, angles are usually measured with the Greek letter θ which is pronounced 'thay-tah' and..."
Me: "Not even close; 'theeeeeee-tah,' not 'thay-tah.'"
Teacher : "So, do you need this class as a prerequisite?"
Me: "Oh no, I'm not registered for this class. I'm not even a student here."
@@Pete-Prolly Oh, man, that was really good. Greek is a language I want to learn for sure.
@@canriecrystol btw, atom is person in Greek
"hmmm yes, the 'don't splits' here don't split."
Andrew: "No-one uses omicron"
Biologists in 2022: I'm about to end this man's whole career
lower case sigma = standard deviation, or squared, it's variance
johnmfl61 also Stefan's constant.
johnmfl61 that’s more for statistics, but statistical mechanics is part of physics, so maybe it shows up there. Idk I haven’t taken it yet
Thank you. When he didn't mention it I died a little inside😰
@@jordangraupmann9031 Is you're doing experimental physics, you will hat... I mean, use it a lot to show your results
or surface density, and add linear density to a use for lambda.
I'm a mathematician, so they're all angles for me 😂
You use Uppercase sigma as an angle? What type of weird mathematician are you?
@@d6853 right 😂
@@d6853 What is Sugma?
What? The letters used for angles are basically only alpha, beta, gamma, theta, and phi. That leaves the entire rest of the Greek alphabet of commonly used letters in mathematics.
Basically, I think you're probably a young-ish kid pretending to have a math degree to sound "smort."
@@kruksog lambda sometimes used too
Andrew: let's not talk about alpha and beta particles.
Everybody:
Andrew: okay fine, let's talk about them.
Lowercase sigma can also be used as the Stephan-Boltzmann constant as well as a type of bond in chemistry.
That's a good one!
Same thing for pi delta and phi
@@lambdabaryon I have never heard about phi bonding. Is it something involving f orbitals?
Lowercase sigma is also used for surface charge density when studying E fields
EDIT: and absolute uncertainties
EDIT #2: tau is also used for torque
Mehrfth on the same note lowercase lambda is used for charge linear density
Uppercase tau is torque, lower case tau is shear stress or average shear stress
Lowercase sigma is also used for dipolar moment between two atoms bonded together.
Oh wait, that's chemistry
I'M SORRY
Come on and \Tau for convolution?
Andrew I just want to say thank you for these videos. It really helps me prepare for learning physics in college even though I'm in high school. Thank you for everything!
5:14....I Ksi what you did there
This beta stop soon when will this PHInish
I'm in the first year. I've seen Tau as Torque, lowercase delta as standard deviation, and lowercase sigma for uncertainties in measures.
Lowercase delta for standard deviation?!?!?! OMG!! Your professors are destroying canonical mathematical and physical language... In statistics lowercase sigma is used for standard deviation, and S_x for the experimental approximation of standard deviation.
I've also seen tao for torque, theta for temperature.
The emf is actually an epsilon.
Lamda also used to represent the decay constant for radioactive isotopes? And also Rho is used to represent the Resistivity of a material :p
Flux (Phi) : Am I a joke to you?
Chemistry major here:
- sigma, pi and delta are used as types of bonds between atoms, uppercase - as term symbols in spectroscopy
- lambda is molar electrical conductance
- beta is shorthand for the 1/(kT) factor in thermodynamics
- epsilon can denote the absorption coefficient of light by a substance
- tau is characteristic time of a reaction
- psi is still a goddamn wave function
when one of my professors started to use iota in one of his equations i lost it
In my classes we use tau for torque, lambda for linear density, and sigma for area density. In statistics we also use a bunch of these letters, like mu, sigma, and chi for instance
Well I am from Greece and I study physics so... Yep... shit is great for us😂😂
How does that work out
It’s December 2021 when I write this comment and ”No one uses omicron” has aged poorly
I was looking for this comment.
@@falconofbalasagun4163 same
Epsilon can also be used to describe Hooke's Law, in terms of expanding the whole formula. I am pretty sure most of you know but here it is just for fun.
Sigma, which is force over cross sectional area of the spring/wire, equals young's modulus multyplied by epsilon, which equals change in length over initial length of the wire.
Ro I've seen it used in some textbooks describing the ratio of the isobaric volumes when it comes to calculate the efficiency of the diesel engine. Maybe it.s outdated, or maybe it.s strictly used by engineers, in some countries.
Eta is used to describe the efficiency of say, an inclined plane where all sort of forces act on an object. Also used to describe the efficiency of pretty much all engines out there, not just the Carnot cycle.
Nu, which looks like a normal v, is used for the quantity of substance, a fluid mainly, measured in moles.
Sigma is also used in mathematics, and it is associated with permutations, which are just bijective functions(sets with some intrinsic properties that describe how the elements os a set turn out in another set). Phi and Psi are also used to describe permutations.
Hope this helps a bit.
ChemE here. We often use Xi for extent of reaction calculations in material and energy balances
Big delta:
_sad laplacian noises_
Lowercase sigma:
_sad surface charge density noises_
Wouldnt the laplacian be denoted by the del operator, which isnt a greek letter at all?
In addition, I have seen β used for sound intensity, κ for dielectric constant, μ for electron mobility, ρ for resistivity, ε for strain, and γ for shear strain.
I mean you can also use any of the greek letters arbitrarily for a set of angles in a given problem, when they aren’t all the same angle. Such as angle α,θ,φ,β, etc
"No one uses Omicron" hits different in 2022.
We've also been using lowercase sigma for conductivity and lowercase rho for resistivity
Last semester I did a relativity course where the lecturer would always use lowercase rho for polar coordinates and lowercase xi for Cartesian. I never learned to write it properly either and just drew a squiggle. Apparently that was ok as I never lost marks for it.
Psi is also used for the stream function in fluid dynamics.
Capital gamma is used in fluid dynamics too for the circulation. It’s also used for connection coefficients in relativity.
Sigma is used for conductivity and for the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.
phi is also used as the phase constant while defining the motion of a harmonic oscillator
I've also seen lowercase sigma being used to represent stefan's constant
lower case sigma is often used for standard deviation or a surface charge density. lambda is also used for line charge density, lower tau is also used for torque, lower case xi is often used for eigenvectors, but that is more math than physics
Lowercase pi can be the osmotic pressure of a solution, mu canbe a refractive index, and sigma/rho can be conductivity/resistivity.
These letters are now the part of our life
Okay I love this new hair Style.
Capital theta is the most terrifying greek letter in physics.Whenever it comes it feels like shlt is about to get real in physics.
You deserve more views. Cool and useful video. :)
This is such a useful video! As someone who took the AP Physics C test just a few months ago, the amount of Greek amused me, and I’m glad that won’t change.
(Also, “xi-en it” had me laughing I’m not gonna lie)
I absolutely loved this video!Vital for me to understand physics and for researching physics documents!
Tau is two times pi.
Also the integral symbol is a bastardized sigma.
I have also seen lambda and gamma used as parameters in linear combinations, and alpha as an angle.
I use phi as the electromagnetic flux and as an offset in a wave function. I mean the initial angle in radians at t=0 at the origin.
And lowercase delta as the offset between two points in a wave.
Beta is also used as the sound intensity.
The greek letter nu is the frequency of a wave and I think you didn't mention it.
Sigma is the weirdest one for me. From the things you've mentioned I've never seen one of them.
I only remember using sigma as a type of chemical bond in chemistry
But yeah, greek letters in physics are a huge world, and you could talk about it a lot.
Lower case sigma is sometimes used for surface tension and lower case psi is used for the streamline function.
σ (lowercase sigma) is also used as the Stefan-Boltzmann constant
Sigma is also used extensively in laser physics to refer to the stimulated emission “cross section,” which relates the Einstein A coefficient to the wavelength.
I had a Karen moment when you were describing an eigenvalue.
Grrrr
Tau also can mean 2pi
Lower case sigma also is like density but for area.
Really rocking the physicist hair in this vid
lowercase mu:
not only magnetic permeability and coefficient of friction, but also:
particle (muon)
magnetic moment (or specifically Bohr's magneton)
chemical potential
5:17 I remember having a derivations assignment on Lane-Emden equations , had to write this annoying little symbol almost 20 times and each time i did it looked even less better than it did before ...
Lowercase alpha also shows up in special relativity as the rapidity. Specifically, beta = tanh(alpha) and gamma = cosh(alpha).
Edit: I can't find any examples of this convention in an online search, but I'm certain I've seen it.
Lowercase sigma for surface charge density and lowercase lambda for linear charge density
I recently used an omicron with a wavy line on top õ for a constant factor before an integral in my assignment. I was feeling particularly jolly that day.
Lower case sigma is used for permutations and permutation groups too!
I love how he ignored that μ is used for refractive index of a medium
I've seen capital omega represent a function of discrete Fourier transforms, ie Ω[x] = (some function here). There were definitely a lot of other symbols that relate to electrical engineering that I couldn't remember how we use, because it's been a minute since I've used them. But this video is meant for physics students so I don't have any high ground whatsoever
Φ is also the flux on electromagnetism
ρ is also resistivity of conductors
Greek Letter Modification... 1 example = Upside-down Omega = Conductance
Lambda is also the constant for radioactive decay.
The cosmological constant is not the rate at which the Universe is expanding; it was a parameter Einstein introduced in his equations to _stop_ the Universe from expanding. The Hubble "constant" is the rate at which the Universe is expanding (usually expressed in km/s per Mpc).
mu is also reduced mass in orbital problems
Beta could also means !1/k_bT, k_b means the Boltzmann constant
I use lambda for lambda calculus, Theta(x) is the set of all the complexity functions that are equivalent to x (oversimplifying), uppercase omega(x) the same as theta but the functions are greater or equivalent to x, lowercase omega(x) the same as theta but the functions are strictly grater than x
I primarily associate phi with magnetic or electric flux, since I just finished E&M
μ for micro-something. 10^-6. like micrometer μm or microsecond μs.
Some people use capital Δ is used for bandgap energies in solid state physics. Outside of 3.14159, we also used lowercase π in grad quantum to represent the parity operator (a map from ψ(x) |--> ψ(-x) ). Also, omicron (o-micron = small o) and omega (o-mega, big o); I just thought that was cool.
Donez Horton-Bailey lowercase pi used to represent pions
0:20 "no one uses Omicron" ...............................
"no one uses omnicron"
meanwhile in 2022...
Just in case you're wondering what these letters sound like in spoken greek
β - veeta
Γ - gamma
Δ - Thelta or soft delta
η - eeta
θ - theeta
μ - mee
ν - nee
ο - omicron, but like the way you say ohms
ρ - r but rolled
τ - taf or tav
φ - phee
χ - this sounds more like hee than anything
ψ - psee
Uppercase lambda for Langrangian and uppercase delta for Laplacian
No zeta? :(
TheIttSco Riemann zeta function
Of course! How could I forget!
Z = Electrical impedance
Lower case sigma in france is also the "wave number" (nombre d'onde) when talking about infrared spectrums
Upper case omega also used for the statistical weight (or multiplicity) in statistical mechanics :)
Interesting cause in statistics it is often reserved for the sample space :)
σ also denotes surface charge density or conductance
you forgot that Gamma also is in electricty...it stands for how well something conducts electricity
Tau also used for Torque in some mechanics texts
beta is the inverse of the temperature and capital omega is the number of states on statistical mechanics
I don't even know why i'm here, but thanks for the info, love child of Dane cook and ryan reynolds
Upper case pi also represents osmotic pressure in chemistry.
"You probably won't see the upper case Gamma in undergrad since it is the Gamma function" we had to learn the Gamma function for my differential equations and for one of my statistics courses, rip me
Hello this is just a Greek Physics student who has a silly smile watching this video. Have a nice day!
I've seen lowercase sigma and lambda used for lower-dimensional densities.
I would use lower case sigma as electrical conductivity or microscopic absorption cross section.
Can't epsilon be the Levi-Cevita symbol?
Yeah that's a good one!
Andrew Dotson hey Andrew I have a question, how much math time does a physics major spend doing math in one day?
@@vinitchauhan973 90% of the time. Maths is the language of Physics. It's like asking an English literature major how much time it spends reading and writing in English: probably almost all of the time. The other 10% is spent graphing functions, coding and doing data analysis on experimental data (which also involves a lot of math). However, once you finish school, you might spend more time in the lab doing measurements if you follow an experimental physics orientation (but it will still involve a tremendous amount of math for any serious work)
I've seen upper-case omega used for solid angles.
I know this is unrelated to greek letters, but in 2 weeks I'm visiting my brother who is stationed in Norfolk. I'm goning to take the advantage and tour ODU while I'm there.
you omitted that mu is an SI unit prefix.
in my current first semester of undergrad physics, I see tau used for torque
ρ=resistivity of a conductor
As an engineer, I desperately try to put these into numbers as fast as possible
This is very helpful. Thanks dude.
β represented as decibel be like: am i joke to you
Oh... Expected the solid angle (\Omega). At least more than \Tau for convolution and \sigma for charge density...
I've seen rho used for resistivity (in ohms*meters) of materials, but that might be an engineering thing idk
Lowercase sigma is also used for conductivity.
I've seen lambda used for root mean path as well
1st-year Engineer: I understood some of these words..
das me
How are you now?
I read descriptions dawg
10 kardashians out of 10 best episode of sister wives yet
alpha: general infinitesimal
capital alpha: incredibly big general number
omega : negative or positive infinitesimal
capital omega: incredibly big number
I've seen lowercase sigma used to denote standard deviation.
The best definition for an eigenvalue was that it's the scaling factor of some vector's length (but *doesn't* change the direction) after a transformation (a matrix) acted on that vector (eigenvector).
*that I've heard
Also, lowercase sigma is used for variance (squared?).
not squared.
Is no one going to mention that at 3:38 eta is also used for the Dirichlet eta function? (For those who don't know, the Dirichlet eta function is the alternating series version of the Riemann zeta function.)