Gamma Information
Gamma (uppercase Γ, lowercase γ; Greek: γάμμα) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Gimel . Letters that arose from Gamma include the Roman C and G and the Cyrillic letters Г and Ґ.
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Uses
Greek
The alphabet on a black figure vessel, with a Λ-shaped gamma.In Ancient Greek, gamma represented a voiced velar stop /ɡ/. In Modern Greek, it represents a voiced fricative. It is realized either as a palatal /ʝ/ (before a front vowel, /e, i/), or as a velar /ɣ/ (in all other environments).
Both in Ancient and in Modern Greek, before other velars (κ, χ, ξ k, kh, ks), gamma represents a velar nasal /ŋ/. A double gamma γγ represents the sequence /ŋɡ/ (phonetically varying [ŋɡ~ɡ]) or /ŋɣ/.
International Phonetic Alphabet
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, lowercase gamma (ɣ) represents the voiced velar fricative. A lowercase gamma that lies above the baseline rather than crossing it (ɤ) represents the close-mid back unrounded vowel.
Math and science
Lower case
The lower-case letter is used as a symbol for:
- chromatic number of a graph. Sometimes is used, which is unfortunate since this is also used for the Euler characteristic
- gamma radiation in nuclear physics
- surface energy in materials science
- the Lorentz factor in theory of relativity
- The heat capacity ratio Cp/Cv in thermodynamics
- The activity coefficient in thermodynamics
- The gyromagnetic ratio in electromagnetism
- gamma oscillation in neuroscience
- Gamma motoneurons in neuroscience
- Gamma is a non-SI metric unit of measure of mass equal to onemicro gram (1 μg). This always rare use is currently deprecated.
- Gamma is also a non-SI unit of measure of magnetic flux density, sometimes used in geophysics, equal to 1 nano tesla (nT).
- the power by which the luminance of an image is increased in gamma correction
- The Euler–Mascheroni constant
- In mechanical engineering,
- specific weight
- The shear rate of a fluid is represented by a lower case gamma with a dot above it:
- Austenite (also known as γ-iron), a metallic non-magnetic allotrope or solid solution of iron.
Upper case
The upper-case letter is used as a symbol for:
- In mathematics, the gamma function (usually written as -function) is an extension of the factorial to complex numbers
- In probability theory and statistics, the gamma distribution is a two-parameter family of continuous probability distributions.
- circulation in fluid mechanics
- As reflection coefficient in physics and electrical engineering
- The tape alphabet of a Turing machine
Meteorology
- Gamma was one of the names used in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season as Tropical Storm Gamma.
Technical notes
HTML
The HTML entities for uppercase and lowercase gamma are Γ and γ.
Unicode
| description | character | Unicode | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | |||
| LETTER GAMMA | Ɣ ɣ | U+0194 U+0263 | Ɣ ɣ |
| International Phonetic Alphabet | |||
| SMALL LETTER RAMS HORN | ɤ | U+0264 | ɤ |
| spacing modifier letters | |||
| MODIFIER LETTER SMALL GAMMA | ◌ˠ | U+02E0 | ˠ |
| Greek | |||
| LETTER GAMMA | Γ γ | U+0393 U+03B3 | Γ γ |
| phonetic extensions | |||
| LETTER SMALL CAPITAL GAMMA | ᴦ | U+1D26 | ᴦ |
| MODIFIER LETTER SMALL GAMMA | ◌ᵞ | U+1D5E | ᵞ |
| SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER GAMMA | ◌ᵧ | U+1D67 | ᵧ |
| letterlike symbols | |||
| DOUBLE-STRUCK GAMMA | ℾ ℽ | U+213E U+213D | ℾ ℽ |
| Coptic | |||
| LETTER GAMMA | Ⲅ ⲅ | U+2C84 U+2C85 | Ⲅ ⲅ |
See also
Categories:
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