Gamma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the letter. For other uses, see Gamma (disambiguation).

Greek alphabet
Α α Alpha	Ν ν Nu
Β β Beta	Ξ ξ Xi
Γ γ Gamma	Ο ο Omicron
Δ δ Delta	Π π ϖ Pi
Ε ε Epsilon	Ρ ρ Rho
Ζ ζ Zeta	Σ σ ς Sigma
Η η Eta	Τ τ Tau
Θ θ Theta	Υ υ Upsilon
Ι ι Iota	Φ φ Phi
Κ κ Kappa	Χ χ Chi
Λ λ Lambda	Ψ ψ Psi
Μ μ Mu	Ω ω Omega
Obsolete letters
Ϝ ϝ Digamma	Ϻ ϻ San
Ϙ ϙ Qoppa	Ϡ ϡ Sampi
Ϛ ϛ Stigma	Ϸ ϸ Sho
diacritics

Gamma (uppercase Γ, lowercase γ) 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 Ge Г and Ghe Ґ.

In Modern Greek, it represents either a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ or a voiced palatal fricative /ʝ/. In Ancient Greek, it represented a voiced velar stop /ɡ/. Before velars, it represents a velar nasal /ŋ/ in Modern as well as Ancient Greek, and a double gamma represents a prenasalized voiced velar stop (/ŋɡ/).

[edit] Use as a symbol or a term

Main article: Gamma (disambiguation)

Gamma is often used to denote a variable in mathematics and physics. In certain areas it has a specific meaning.